We make unique handmade home essentials and women accessories while respecting the boundaries of nature.

Bridging the gap

The Circle of Change

The Circle of Change results in empowering the women of the Chars – handing them more opportunities to live with dignity and hope within their communities and beyond.

We bridge the gap in the Circle of Change by making the products and skills of the women of the Chars available to the world’s conscious consumers. The high quality, colourful products provide a lasting joy to the people who use them whilst accelerating social change for the women who produce them.

Bridging the Gap
Women of the Chars Change Dyeing fabrics

Build

Build resilient people and communities

Colours of the Chars builds on the groundwork set by Friendship, a holistic and community based approach to development (health, education, civil inclusivity). Friendship services 6 million forgotten people in the most remote, climate impacted areas in Bangladesh by building resilient communities

Colours of the Chars creates a sustainable income model to support the women of the Chars. We do this by investing in workplaces for women with flexible working hours, childcare facilities, access to health care and fair wages.

A work environment that goes hand in hand with the other duties of the Char women, taking into account the cultural role of the women in their families and community.

Educate

Skill development Sustainability education

Colours of the Chars empowers women to make fabulous high-quality products by hand, with vocational training programmes in textiles where they learn skills, such as dyeing, spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing and crochet. We help them obtain a sustainable livelihood that benefits themselves, their families and their communities.

Sustainability is an important value of Colours of the Chars. Women learn how to produce high-quality products through methods that don’t harm the environment, such as only using natural techniques for colouring and dyeing, capturing wastewater for reuse and making sure that all fabric waste will be reused.

We educate teaching the women of the Chars
The Char Islands
Woman of the Chars Colourful Dyeing Fabric
Plane View of the Chars
Childeren during education empowerment
Products of the Chars High quality textiles

Create

High quality textiles

Colours of the Chars creates innovative designs, patterns, processes and colour schemes with a wide range of natural colouring. The techniques the talented women of the Chars use to create unique products by hand are:

  • Block printing
  • Jacquard hand looming
  • Hand embroidery and crochet
  • Dyeing with natural colours

 

They make unique handmade home essentials, such as pillow covers, plaids, table cloths, aprons and tea towels along with accessories, such as scarves, bracelets, bags, crochet items and necklaces. All whilst respecting the boundaries of nature.

Accelerate

Female independence

Colours of the Chars creates job opportunities with fair wages, making our women more self-reliant and able to contribute to the family income. This has a lasting positive impact on their role within their family and community.

Increasing our production increases our optimism, accelerates this transformation and contributes to our promise to the future world of textiles.

Our manifest

  • Empowering women
  • High quality products for life
  • Create sustainable textiles
  • Seeing society’s unseen
Colours of the Chars unique homemade essentials handmade fabrics textile fairtrade
Fabric hanging to dry Connect with us

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