Post Earthquake Cashmere Factory Images

After last years earthquake in Kathmandu, we had to relocate the factory. Lucky the earthquake was ona Stuarday when no-one was working.

Here are some pictures of the new factory.

We have visited Kathmandu many times and it's great to see such a happy team of people who have all worked together for such a long time.

To buy pashminas and cashmere knitwear, please see our website www.mypashmina.co.uk

Uni Sex

This beautiful 3 ply herringbone weave pashmina is suitable for both him and her . It is large enough to be worn on shoulders but light enough for around the neck as well. Goes perfectly with our cashmere gloves and hats. 

For more colours please see http://www.mypashmina.co.uk/

Solar Panels & Concrete

Hello,

We are moving the factory, from the southern end of Kathmandu to the northern end. The primary reason is because the ground water here naturally contains too much iron which can affect the dyeing process. The cost of having water brought by truck from an area without the iron is getting too expensive (it's also wasteful).

The new factory will have access to iron-free ground water, more space and conveniently is in a part of the valley which is full of women who are skilled handknitters. So expect to see more items like these 'oh so cute' baby socks/booties on www.mypashmina.co.uk.


Most of the building work in Kathmandu is in concrete. Personally I think it is quite ugly - and the old building style from clay bricks and wood looks nicer. Also the sand to mix with the cement is dredged from the Bagmati river. This is killing the river - as when the river loses it's sand plants grow in from the banks shrinking the river. The other disadvantage of concrete is the amount of CO2 released in the production of cement.

With this in mind, we are keeping the use of concrete in the factory to a minimum. We will have wood floors in most of the production areas, brick walls, bamboo supports and (as in 99% of factorys in Kathmandu) a corrigated iron and glass fibre roof. The wood costs about double the concrete - which explains why nearly all new buildings here are concrete.

We wanted to run the factory completely with solar power (You can import solar panels tax and duty free if you get approved by the government, but can't get approved without having a quality test on 3 types of panels - and they can't test until they have set the fee - which has been in discussion for at least 2 months .... I may be getting cynical, but can't help wonder who benefits from this??).

However we will have the lighting solar powered. This can be expanded later to power the washing machines and dryers. We don't use the horribly noisy 'power looms' so we don't have to have electricity to power them. All our cashmere knitwear and pashminas are made on hand looms.

If anyone wants to find out the test fee , or ask about the testing procedure the email address is sets@ntc.net.np .

We will be back in Nepal in February, at the crucial stage of the building work.

This week at the cashmere factory

This week at the cashmere factory in Kathmandu....

1. We have put in a new rubbish sorting system.

We have put extra bins everywhere, and some big bins near the entrance ready for collection.

The tiny bits of waste cashmere that were thrown away before, are now being collected, and put inside nice cushion covers. (The result is cushions containing about $150 worth of cashmere by weight!). The are for workers who mostly sit down while doing there work and for decoration.

The paper and card will be sold to a recycling company for 2 rupees per kilo.

The hard plastic and metal will be collected by someone who then sells it.

The soft plastic - which there is not much will go to the city dump (not to the Bagmati river, where a lot of rubbish collectors dump their rubbish .. grrrr!)

2. A shiney new noticeboard is clear to see in the middle of the factory
We found from our questionnaire of the staff that they would like to know more about what is going on in the factory, and indeed to work closer with the management. So a noticeboard is a simple solution.

The first things to go on the noticeboard are:
a. News about the new rubbish sorting
b. Information about training options
c. Information about new monthly meetings between different departments and factory management
d. News of a staff picnic on the 20th December - and the planned activites
e. The factory mission (in many Chinese factorys I saw big slogans on the walls). I asked for these to be translated and found out they said things like "Work hard today, and you will have a job tomorrow"). I thought this was a bit threatening - especially in 6ft high red letters! But the idea of having reminders in the factory about the mission for quality and timeliness are good.


3. Quality Control Book
Every piece of cashmere knitwear that is made is thoroughly checked (when i have a good internet connection, i will put some videos of this online).

Now, records of every item are being kept, so at the end of every day it can be reviewed and system inprovements can be made.

Also at the end of every week, statistics from the book can be collected, and displayed on the noticeboard in order to (hopefully) show everyone the continual improvement.

Thats all for now. Today Caroline is making the voiceover on a video about the situation of women in western Nepal - which is shocking and tragic (and will be uploaded once we have decent internet connections) - Doctors and money required .. if anyone out there wants to help contact us, and we will put you in touch with the right people .