Sanghamitra (left) with Ana Wilkinson-Gee, Krishna and Arati pattern-making for Holi Boli. Photo / Joel Carter
In a rural village in India, a woman joined a sewing class.
She was recovering after her third stillbirth and looking for something to help with the healing.
She later graduated from the class and took up employment with Holi Boli, an ethical women’s clothing manufacturer and fashion label after her husband lost his job.
From there she earned enough money to fuel her body and could afford to eat three meals a day.
Little by little, she regained her health and later gave birth to a baby boy.
That is just one story of how the Wilkinson-Gee family from Hawke’s Bay are making a difference through their fashion label Holi Boli.
In Holi Boli’s pop-up store in Napier this month is a selection of dresses fashionably crafted and skilfully curated, with links that stretch back to the rural village where the women create the garments.
The shop on Emmerson St is open Monday to Saturday until August 31, giving Hawke’s Bay shoppers a chance to own a piece of Holi Boli.
Former Tamatea High School student, co-founder and fashion designer Ana Wilkinson-Gee said there was nothing more empowering than creating a safe and dignified workspace for Indian women.
In 2010 Wilkinson-Gee, a trained fashion designer, dress and pattern maker, moved to Bhalupali village and began running home sewing classes for women.
She offered the chance for women to upskill, as many of them worked in labouring jobs and were unable to travel for employment.
“In the village where we were, women are a lot more restricted than I realised and often confined to their extended family’s living quarters, and some weren’t allowed to go to the other side of the village for fear of safety.”
Wilkinson-Gee had worked to connect New Zealand and India, bringing together the women who make the clothes and those who wear them. She has a store in Wellington and another in Hamilton.
She employs 21 women from Bhalupali village and has trained over 200 to sew to an international dress-making standard.
“It’s not just changing their world economically, giving them financial freedom, and helping them to feed their kids, but also looking at the whole holistic freedom it can bring.”
She said the women work a “mum friendly” work week of 32 hours and the money earned meant families could put three meals on the table and helped to lift them out of poverty.
“I had the absolute joy of watching my staff go from skin and bones to looking healthy, and that was a beautiful physical transformation to watch.”
By helping the women gain their sewing certificates, Wilkinson-Gee said she witnessed how it changed the women’s self-perceptions, as they could help contribute financially towards their family life.
“Some of the ladies I have taught are illiterate, so they really are vulnerable.”
She described the Holi Boli label as an “Indian-Western fusion” and said the clothes are made from plant-based cotton and linens, with the buttons crafted from coconuts and shells.
Wilkson-Gee said she and her husband, who ran the admin side of the business, didn’t take a wage and tried to give as much of the profits back to the Indian women as possible.
“The whole heart of the business and the reason it exists is to create jobs for these women in the village in India.”
Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 10am to 4pm
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
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