Thursday, June 23, 2005
Stitch in the right direction
A Roanoke handbag designer has ties to an embroidery business owner in Afghanistan.
The latest from The Ticker blog
Conflict in the Middle East didn't keep Rangina Hamidi from returning to her Afghanistan homeland.
She was born in Kandahar, but her family moved to Virginia after Hamidi was threatened by war-related forces for going to school in Pakistan.
After Hamidi graduated from the University of Virginia five years ago, she moved back to Kandahar, where the Taliban had been ousted by U.S. military action.
There, she founded an embroidery business that employs about 300 women who work at home.
Now, a Roanoke business and an international peace organization are helping Hamidi build economic vitality for her employees in Kandahar.
Earlier this month, Hamidi, 27, met Laura Bradford, who is president of Claire V, a business headquartered at 309 Campbell Ave. in downtown Roanoke. Claire V designs and sells silk handbags and other accessories. The handbags are manufactured in Vietnam and at a training center for landmine victims in Cambodia.
At least 10 percent of Claire V's sales go to education and health programs in Southeast Asia.
Bradford is on the executive council of the Business Council for Peace, a United Nations-sponsored group of professionals who aid female business leaders in war-torn countries.
The nonprofit council was created in 2002, and its members are mentors who help women market their products nationally and internationally. They also help them raise funds for raw materials and develop business models.
The council serves women in Afghanistan and Rwanda and Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East. Afghanistan is the council's most developed program, said Toni Maloney, chairwoman of the council, which also is called Bpeace.
Hamidi is one of the 22 Afghan women supported by the council, and she fits the group's leader model. It works with "fast runners," women who already operate their own businesses, because they "are in the best position to create jobs," Maloney said.
Hamidi and Bradford met at a New York product development and style training convention sponsored by the council this month. They worked out a deal to involve Hamidi's business, Kandahar Treasure, with Claire V.
Hamidi's employees would embroider designs for two new Claire V bags: a yoga bag that is large enough to carry a yoga mat, and an evening bag. The bags will be produced in Vietnam.
Claire V is a fair trade company, which means it follows international trade principles, such as paying producers a living wage.
Hamidi said it originally did not occur to her that handbag work would fit into her business' product line. She sells embroidered products, such as shawls and tablecloths, at fairs in Kabul and at other national events.
After restructuring her business plan through Bpeace, Hamidi wants to sell home-related products, such as pillows, wall hangings and tablecloths, internationally.
When she gets back to Kandahar, she said, she would like to open a store in Kabul to sell clothing and other items used in traditional Afghan weddings.
Hamidi has a vision to make her business self-sustaining. She is supported by grants and individual donations now. Ultimately, she wants women in Kandahar to enjoy success.
The effects of Taliban rule still linger there. Many women will not venture out of their homes to work, Hamidi said.
"Women are afraid to really have a presence in an all-male-dominated society," she said. "Most of the women who can now work are products of the war."
But Hamidi went back to her homeland to create opportunities, and she said she'd feel guilty if she returned to the United States permanently.
When her family fled Afghanistan, "I left the misery that I would have been living under."
Now, "I feel there's an obligation to fulfill by giving back what I gained, " she said.
Meanwhile, Claire V's presence continues to grow. Its handbags can be found in some specialty boutiques nationally, including at two Roanoke Valley stores, Millie & Co. in Salem and Plantagenet Rose in Southwest Roanoke.
The company also has expanded its European market to about 200 stores and a showroom in Amsterdam, Netherlands, for German distributors. It also sells bags online, such as at theknot.com, a wedding Web site.
On the Net: www.clairev.com.
