Hastavem – weaving happiness. the one stop online Handloom store – by Reena Sujai.
3 min readHastavem is 100% ‘Made in India’ . And we take pride in Make in India Culture.
I , Reena Sujai, is a mompreneur and Founder of an online handloom Clothing brand – Hastavem. I ended up being a Womenpreneur, during my maternal break from my everyday occupation as a Software programmer. Today, I’m a lady business visionary who additionally runs my family while nurturing my two children, a dog and dealing with regular work.
I had taken a career break in 2013 and when I was about to resume work, A surprise came in as my Second Pregnancy. Though it was joyful news, the thought of unemployment for a couple more years started impacting me and my mental health.
“I was determined to destress myself and that is when business through WhatsApp and Instagram were gaining momentum in 2016. I communicated my musings to my significant other and he said, “why not begin something all alone” and tipped me off about #iwearhandloom activity by Textile Minister Smriti Irani and HASTAVEM was born. “- Reena Says
Hastavem zeros in just on handloom Sarees that join the handloom mark, we attempt to give them a turn by clubbing the sarees with Blouse fabrics. Handlooms are constantly viewed as costly. Hastavem deals with that, as our adage #handloomforeveryone
Associating with the weavers, curating the items, Handling client inquiries, getting positive and empowering input from them gives me a monstrous fulfillment. Besides, Hastavem for me resembles finding that tragically missing closest companion who is consistently there for you.
The most troublesome part for me was to interface with the real weavers. On most occasions, we were nearly deceived by specialists and affiliates claiming to be weavers. We generally do a ground check and if achievable, we visit them actually. We take the items just in the event that they give or have a handloom tag.
At the point when Hastavem was at its pinnacle and blossoming, I needed to move to the USA with my family in 2017. It was challenging to oversee operations and facilitate my group, weavers, and everything alongside an all-day 9-5 occupation in the USA. Be that as it may, my group, family, companions, and my Spouse have been my emotionally supportive network!
There was a stage in 2021, where we had operational issues and we had almost planned to close this business, but today we are successfully Running Hastavem in two different continents at two different time zones.
A special mention to our team in Mumbai, India, who are our spine in executing the India operation smoothly.
Our first most memorable moment was in May 2018 , when we converted 18 orders per month to 50 dispatched every week and this has been consistent to date!
Through this startup we had the opportunity to revive lost handloom from Kappaladoddi, Andhra Pradesh.
Support #reloomkerala initiative during the 2018 monstrous flood in Kerala State.
From the time we initiated this startup, Our biggest strength has been our Customer base, We can proudly say, “We are a business that has grown on a word to mouth”. Today we have Organically grown 63K followers on Instagram.
Hastavem Products are proudly flaunted by Popular Celebrities like
Award Winning Motivational Speaker ” Dr.Malvika Iyer”
Indian Actresses Like : Parvathy Thiruvothu ,Vani Bhojan , Anumol, Priya Bapat
Popular Blogger : Swati Mukund
Indian Reality Shows /Series : Bigg Boss (Tamil) , Tamil Programmes Aired in Sun Network
Hastavem has started its journey in the USA and has been building a curated ecosystem for handloom lovers in the USA. Our motto for 2023 is to grow 10x and promote handloom culture globally.
What started as a passion to keep myself busy during my Pregnancy & Sabbatical has grown into a full fledged business supporting 50+ weaver communities , with 60K+ Happy customers!
I utilized the new mom’s sleepless night to answer customer queries, working on business development!
I strongly believe that
“The solitary thing that is halting you will be YOU”. Try not to stop with intuition, yet immediately execute it, in the long run things will exercise!
Thanks
Team Hastavem.