this season’s hand-knitted cashmere flower scarves are beautifully crafted by women workers at tomato pashmina accessories, a small business based in kathmandu, the capital of nepal. sula goes to great lengths to source small ethical workshops like this one run by mr bhishma jee panta and mrs shophy panta who told us, ‘we believe in slow fashion, sustainable practices, and the value of meaningful work.’
tomato pashmina accessories has grown from an NGO (a not-for-profit organisation that works independently of the government) knitwear organisation set up by mr panta in 1998. this involved training women in hand and machine knit skills and providing an ethical, nurturing and sustainable working environment, which included allowing women to work at home if this helped them with their family responsibilities.
when mr panta married shophy in 2003 the couple set up tomato pashmina accessories which retains the ethos of the NGO. together they have trained and upskilled over hundred women in hand and machine knitwear skills.
most of the women (aged 21 to 72 years) can walk to work, they bring their own lunch which they enjoy together and on nepal’s many festival days everyone celebrates together.
the team are currently making sula cardigans and sweaters for the spring/summer collection. three of the four garments are hand knitted; working 8 hours a day it takes one knitter 6 days to complete a garment. they are using a fine 3ply yarn (which takes much longer than a chunkier yarn to knit) and are using a deceptively complicated lace style design.
it is vital to sula that we source our clothes from companies like this. we look forward to developing our relationship with tomato pashmina accessories.
