Dipdii Textiles

Project

267523

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

Dipdii Textiles

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Description

Dipdii Textiles are crafted out of local textile traditions. This is a cooperation between Germany and Bangladesh that aims to get the best out of both worlds. The raw material of this project are torned blankets made out of old saris. In our hands these fabrics gain another life. Instead of expending resources, they are crafted with time, skills and creativity. With German designs and Bangladeshi crafts, a beautiful wear solution out of the ordinary is generated.

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Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

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Please provide a summary of your project

The clothes from Dipdii Textiles are designed in Laufen, Germany and  executed in Rudrapur, Bangladesh. They are tailored by hand and crafted out of local textile traditions. Aiming at improved work opportunities in the rural areas of both countries, the process is as important as the product.  Dipdii Textiles is initiated by the Germans Anna Heringer as architect and Veronika Lena Lang as master tailor and is realized in cooperation with the Bangladeshi non-government organization Dipshikha for rural development. More than four million people, women in particular, are living from the fabrication of textiles in Bangladesh. And this is one of the main origins of the clothes we can buy in Europe. The objective of the garment sector merely is to achieve the global standards regarding quality and labour conditions – or in other words: to cheaply produce a perfect standardized t-shirt in safe working conditions. But what is not considered nowadays in the garment sector is the wonderful and unique textile culture that each country owns in rich diversity, nor are the global technological developments taken in account that with great probability will replace part of the manual labour soon. Dipdii Textiles defends a fair fashion for the environment, and for the societies of both hemispheres.  This project joins crafts(wo)men and designers that together create a sustainable fashion option for Europe and Bangladesh.   It proves the possibility of an alternative “made in Germany/Bangladesh” production: participative, sustainable, decentralized, based on the local textile traditions and techniques, with every piece being unique and with the purpose to improve the quality of life from the ones who make it and the ones who wear it.   

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

In rural Bangladesh a woman gets one sari per year from her family on occasion of the main Muslim or Hindu festival. A man gets one lungi, which is a piece of cloth wrapped around as a skirt. When the saris and lungis are worn out, they are traditionally recycled into blankets: about six layers of those cotton clothes are fixed together with hundreds of stitches made by hand. Over the years with everyday use, the surface layers of the blankets peel off and the hidden layers appear. The vibrant and incredible colourful textured surface is an imprint of its own little family cosmos. These textiles - khatas form the basis of this project. In another upcycling process through the excellent craftsmanship of many women around the villages of Rudrapur and Birgonj and the design of german tailors, these fabrics are turned into  contemporary design clothes. In total, our products have 3 different lives. First they are used as garment in Bangladesh, then they are transformed into blankets and finally they are transformed as garment again or pillow covers for the European market. In regular conditions, these beautiful blankets would be discharged in Bangladesh due to their used look, but in Europe, they are valued for their uniqueness and therefore can have another life.  Dipdii is able to upcycle material which saves the environment; generates a great social impact by extending and merging the two local cultural aspects and also promotes an economy based on people instead of machines.     

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

In a way, the project can be seen as an attempt to turn the usual trade flow upside-down. Normally the Global North is producing its jeans and t-shirts in the Global South. Once worn out the clothes are sent back, often with the result of destroying local cultures and markets. With Dipdii textiles the worn-out clothes are sent in a high quality from the Global South to the North leaving us with the question how to value our everyday culture. For us in Europe, these textiles can be an inspiration and motivation towards the art of recycling and craftsmanship as well as strengthening the sensibility to discover the beauty in the used and ordinary. The Dipdii Textiles clothes are strong in their individuality. They don't follow a short-term fashion trend. We hope the pieces will be worn over a long time span of years rather than the usual fashion period of weeks. The uniqueness of the textiles, the fairness of the production as well as the emotions linked to the process is the new pride. The bond to the women producing the clothes is reflected in our shirt's label, which is the signature of the woman working on that shirt.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

For us, the privilege of being an European brand means that we have the capacity of running an holistic business with no harm for nature or people.  In the end, being European means to be part of the world too. And there are several issues in Europe that in order to be solved, need a broader intervention and analyses. And that's why this business relies on a cooperation between Germany and Bangladesh. We wanted to solve the garment problem that we live in Europe, where the high consumption of clothes, leads to a high production and consequent innumerous environment, social and economic impacts of producing in such a mass scale. But this problem can't be solved within Europe itself, once one of the main garment producers for Europe is Bangladesh. For Dipdii Textiles, being inclusive is to envisage the problem from the roots, and this means to establish healthy relationships between continents towards an harmonious Europe and world. 

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

Dipdii Textiles have naturally a direct impact in all its clients. It gives them the opportunity to make grow a fair business and support good causes. Clients who buy a Dipdii product, are clients who know where their money is going and the impact it has. Along with impacting directly the commercial chain of the project (producers and clients), another big impact that we have on Dipdii Textiles is definitely through the work we develop along with exhibition spaces, that have the power to spread our mission and bring up our values to thousands of visitors. Dipdii Textiles had the privilege to be exhibited in several museums and galleries around Europe and sometimes even in other continents too. This results in a building of consciousness and awareness for the visitors that start to look to their own clothes and consumption habits in a different perspective. From a moment that a person enters a shop and buys a t-shirt for 4 euros, there is no time to think about the reason why is that normal nowadays. Our exhibitions help people to have that reflective moment and to create a critical position about the origin of the things they consume. Fortunately, movements to abolish the injustices of the garment sector are raising in Europe through creative and conscious people, but Dipdii Textiles have the particularity to extrapolate Europe and help to solve this problem in two different continents at the same time.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

The project of Dipdii Textiles influences citizens in two distinct ways, according to their location. In Bangladesh, the majority of people live in rural areas. Rudrapur, which stands for many villages in Bangladesh shows how people are able to build their habitat with their own resources: using their hands, local mud and bamboo. They produce food and many daily goods themselves. The neighbourhoods have developed over generations, strong social networks. Women feel comfortable to be outside, children enjoy their village as a fantastic and safe playground. Elderly people find places to keep watch over a goat and to chat under a tree. As a result, the village has a high degree of embedded freedom. But there is a lack of jobs. This is why people leave their villages. From all around the country, people move to the urban textile production hubs. They leave their own homes in the villages to stay in rented rooms. They pay for childcare, for water, sanitation and transportation. Women don't feel safe in public areas. But there is another way, an alternative which avoids the pressure caused by the demand for mass-produced clothes. Dipdii textiles initiates a decentralized textile manufacturing process directly in the respective village and these women don't need to move to the big cities, away from their families to have a job.  In Europe the situation is different. Once our business is oriented to the European market, citizens are beneficing Dipdii mainly as supporters, clients but also as creatives. Since our products have such a strong link between the German and the Bangladeshi cultures, it creates a sense of empathy between both realities.   

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

The most innovative characteristics of the project lay on the upcycling and rethinking of the garment sector. It shows that it is possible to do more with what we already have. What can be considered as trash for some can be gold for others. As Darwin said, nothing is lost, everything is transformed. Dipdii Textiles look for non harmful solutions that can benefit their producers but also the nature and all the people involved into different continents at the same time. It takes out the best of German and Bangladeshi cultures and merges them together in a project that aims for a better, fairer and safer world. Through the combination of European contemporary design and the handcrafts from Bangladesh an innovative solution is born.

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

Based on handcrafts, Dipdii Textiles already built a community. The inherent knowledge, never remains the same but grows to more and more people every day. Just from the fact that our project is based in two different countries and two different continents, there is a constant learning from each other process. Dipdii Textiles have the pride to be an exemplar European Business and we hope, more European companies along with more Bangladeshi businesses can look at us as an example of a fair and healthy relationship between both realities. In our everyday life we keep implementing our learnings from Bangladesh in Germany and the other way around as well. It was also notable to see during this Corona times, where we had  some constrains regarding the communication between Germany and Bangladesh once we couldn’t travel there, that the knowledge is really rooted. Our embroidery teams in Bangladesh can already be so independent from our guidance that the great results can easily be seen in our newest collections. This is the great proof that we can and we should keep learning from each other and when we combine different knowledges, we can create a brighter world. 

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.