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Label STEP

@labelstep

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Label STEP is the fair trade organization committed to the wellbeing of carpet weavers.
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Technology is changing how handmade carpets are designed, communicated and brought to market.

But between a digital design and a finished rug is something technology cannot simply reproduce: the accumulated knowledge of the people who make it.

Weavers interpret colour, material, tension, technique and design through skills developed over time. And technology does not necessarily have to compete with that knowledge. It can also support it.

In Nepal, for example, Label STEP has explored digital tools as a way of making weaving training more accessible to women in artisan communities. As part of STEP’s Artisan Villages initiative, a specialised weaving app gives women in rural communities access to training resources, complementing hands-on learning and support from experienced weavers.

For Label STEP, this raises a bigger question. As new technologies become part of the handmade carpet industry, how can they strengthen the people and skills at its heart? What should the relationship between technology and craftsmanship look like in the future?

We’d love to hear your perspective.

All images by @rene_fietzek

#handmade #handmaderugs #craftanstechnology #artisans #labelstep by @labelstep

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12 hours ago

Inside rug production in Afghanistan.

Following a recent visit to Afghanistan, STEP Certified Partner @ishkar.co shares insights from meeting weavers, suppliers, long-term production partners and the local Label STEP team.

The article offers a closer look at Afghanistan’s rich weaving heritage, but also at the difficult realities surrounding the craft today. Carpet weaving remains physically demanding and wages are typically low. At the same time, restrictions on employment opportunities for women have left many with few alternatives outside home-based work. For women who had pursued education and professional training in fields such as healthcare, education and law, opportunities have become significantly restricted since the Taliban takeover in 2021. As ISHKAR shares, weaving therefore remains one of the few viable sources of income for many women and families.

The article also looks at production processes, natural dye traditions, wages and livelihoods, and the role of responsible and transparent supply chains.

Following conversations during the trip, ISHKAR has committed to incrementally increasing what it pays artisans for flatweave production by 40% over the next 12 months. Through its partnership with Label STEP, these developments will be monitored through regular audits.

Read the full article, shared by ISHKAR, on the Label STEP website via the link in bio.

Images courtesy of ISHKAR.

#afghanistan #handmadecarpets #fairtrade #ishkar #labelstep by @labelstep

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22 days ago

UPDATE FROM NEPAL

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our local team in Nepal, Label STEP has now completed an assessment across all 161 production units affiliated with STEP in the country, representing nearly 3,100 weavers and workers.

While the wider impact of the disaster has been devastating, fortunately relatively few people within STEP’s network have been directly affected, as the hardest-hit areas are not major carpet-producing regions.

In total, 12 weavers and workers within STEP’s network have been directly impacted by the crisis. Among them are people whose relatives remain missing, families who have lost loved ones, and people whose homes, land or livelihoods have been affected.

Label STEP is now working to provide direct assistance to affected weavers and workers and their families, based on their immediate needs.

Supporting those directly affected within our network is our first priority. Any remaining contributions will support wider relief efforts in affected communities, in coordination with local organisations working on the ground.

We are grateful for the solidarity shown by our partners and wider community. Our thoughts are with all those facing loss and uncertainty in the affected communities.

To support through Label STEP, please contact us directly via DM or email: info@label-step.org.

#nepal #nepalfloods #labelstep #nepalfloodrelief by @labelstep

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a month ago

What does fair trade monitoring look like when the conditions around it keep changing?

In Iran, ongoing conflict and instability continue to affect not only weaving communities, but also the conditions in which Label STEP’s local team works.

Security restrictions, checkpoints, disrupted internet access and electricity outages can make travelling to weaving regions, communicating with producers and carrying out regular monitoring significantly more difficult.
Yet the work continues.

Recently, Label STEP’s team in Iran carried out two verification and monitoring visits in the Fars region, adapting their work to changing conditions on the ground.

It is a reminder that responsible supply-chain monitoring cannot always follow a fixed routine. It depends on local knowledge, flexibility and an understanding of how wider events affect the people behind handmade carpets.

Earlier this year, we shared some of those experiences directly through the voices of weavers and their families, who spoke about disrupted education and communication, fewer weaving orders, rising costs and uncertainty about the future.

The handmade carpet sector does not exist separately from the conditions surrounding it. Neither can the work to support the people within it.

Read Lives Interrupted: Voices from Iran’s Artisan Communities through the News link in bio.

#iran #handmadecarpets #fairtrade #labelstep by @labelstep

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4 days ago

WHEN CRAFT BECOMES COMMERCE, WHO BENEFITS?

For generations, weaving knowledge has been passed from hand to hand.

Today, that knowledge is also part of a global industry.
And that creates opportunity.
But it also raises a question:

Who benefits from the value created by craft?

For living heritage to have a future, the people who carry its knowledge need to be part of that future.

Fair working conditions. Decent work. Respect for human rights. A voice in an industry built around their skills.

Filmed at @beni_rugs

#fairtrade #handmadecarpets #labelstep #empowerment by @labelstep

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10 days ago

In rural Türkiye, the working year does not necessarily revolve around a single occupation.

For many women in carpet-weaving communities, different forms of work exist alongside one another. Agriculture shapes part of the year; weaving another. Household and community responsibilities run throughout.

This relationship between agriculture and weaving has deep roots. Research into Türkiye’s handwoven carpet sector has documented how weaving has historically adapted to the agricultural calendar, with production taking place during periods when farming demands less time. The result is a craft deeply connected to place. Rather than separating weaving from rural life.

This is also visible in workshops Label STEP works with in Türkiye, where women combine carpet weaving with seasonal agricultural work. During the weaving months, the workshop brings women together around the loom, allowing highly specialised skills to remain practised within their rural communities.

#Türkiye #HandmadeCarpets #Weaving #ruralempowerment #labelstep by @labelstep

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12 days ago

Can work be valued equally when not all work is paid?

Around the world, women continue to carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work. In handmade carpet production, where weaving often takes place in the home, paid work and unpaid responsibilities can exist side by side.

Through its work in weaving communities, Label STEP supports initiatives that help address some of these realities, from access to childcare and health services to women’s empowerment programmes alongside its work to promote fair remuneration.

On #EqualPayDay, we look beyond the pay rate to the realities that shape women’s opportunities to earn.

All images taken by @rene_fietzek in Artisan Villages, Nepal.

#InternationalEqualPayDay #EqualPay #DecentWork #WomenAtWork

Women carry out the majority of unpaid care and domestic work worldwide. Cooking. Cleaning. Collecting water. Caring for children and family members. Work that takes time, but often comes without pay.

Women perform 76.2% of unpaid care work globally and spend more than three times as much time on it as men. Women in many rural communities also contribute to unpaid agricultural work — further shaping the time available for paid work.

Equal pay is about more than a piece rate. Fair remuneration matters. But so do the conditions that determine who has the time and opportunity to earn. Supporting women therefore also means looking at the realities surrounding their paid work.

Unpaid care work is a much larger structural challenge. But recognising it matters when we talk about equal pay. And within the handmade carpet industry, it makes one principle particularly important: work carried out in the home should not be worth less. Because valuing women’s work equally also means recognising the conditions that shape their opportunities to earn. by @labelstep

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15 days ago

“Craftsmanship does not simply reproduce a design. It can actively refine and shape it.”

For more than 30 years, Sascha Misio has worked with contemporary hand-knotted rugs, developing deep expertise in design, customization and production in Nepal. Today, he brings this experience to @mischioffdesign, combining it with a contemporary approach to design, individualization and responsible production.

When Sascha first entered the sector, rugs were largely produced for stock, in standard designs, colours and sizes. Today, customization has transformed not only what can be designed, but also the relationship between designers, makers and the spaces rugs are created for.

For the first edition of our new In Conversation series, we speak with Sascha about three decades of change in the handmade rug industry and his perspective on where it might be heading next.

#handmadecarpets #design #fairtrade #labelstep by @labelstep

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19 days ago

Protecting children is part of protecting the communities behind handmade carpets. Label STEP’s work in carpet-producing regions goes beyond monitoring working conditions. Alongside promoting decent work and protecting children from child labour, Label STEP works with weaving communities to strengthen the rights, safety and well-being of workers and their families.

In Pakistan, this work includes child protection. Since July, Label STEP’s awareness campaign on the prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation has reached 146 carpet workers through seven sessions in Ferozewatwan, Faisalabad, Jaranwala and Burewala.

Held directly within weaving communities, the sessions support parents and caregivers with practical knowledge around personal safety, recognising risks, communicating openly with children, online safety and knowing where to seek help.

The aim is not only to raise awareness, but to help create environments in which children feel safe to speak and adults are prepared to listen and act.

And those conversations are continuing. When Label STEP returned to Ferozewatwan one month after the first sessions, most participants interviewed said they had discussed what they learned with their children, relatives or others in their communities.

For Label STEP, protecting children and supporting the people who make handmade carpets are connected: decent work is strongest when the communities around it are safe, informed and empowered.

Photos by @thehafsaj

#LabelSTEP #ChildProtectio #DecentWork #Pakistan #HandmadeCarpets by @labelstep

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24 days ago

As the distance between maker and end consumer grows, so does the invisibility of the labour behind the object. Looking closely becomes a way of restoring some of that connection.

Label STEP works to make that connection tangible — working locally across handmade carpet supply chains to protect fair working conditions, strengthen the position of weavers and workers, and help ensure that the value of the handmade reaches the people behind it.

#labelstep #morocco #handmadecarpets #empowerment #moroccancraft by @labelstep

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a month ago

Our thoughts are with all those affected by the devastating flash floods in Nepal and Tibet.

The Label STEP team in Nepal is safe, and none of the carpet production areas where Label STEP works have been directly affected. Some of the weavers and other workers connected to STEP’s network, however, come from affected areas, and our team is currently reaching out to confirm that they and their families are safe.

For those who are able to help, we encourage you to support an organisation you trust working with communities affected by the floods. @fastenaktion, one of Label STEP’s founding organisations, has worked in Nepal for many years and is currently collecting donations for emergency relief. Their appeal is available in German, French and Italian via the link in our bio.

If you would prefer to support affected communities through Label STEP, please contact us directly via DM or email at info@label-step.org.

We stand in solidarity with everyone facing loss and uncertainty in the aftermath of this disaster.

#nepal #nepalflashflood #labelstep by @labelstep

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a month ago

At @beni_rugs in Tameslouht, Morocco, finished rugs move from the loom into a specialised washing process before drying under the Moroccan sun and continuing to final inspection.

It is physical, skilled work — and an essential part of how a rug takes its final form.

But what is particularly interesting about Beni’s Studio is not only what happens here. It is how much of the process is open to view.

Weaving, washing, finishing, quality control and shipping take place within the same production environment. The Studio is also open to visitors, making it possible to follow a rug through different stages of production, meet some of the people behind the process and better understand work that usually remains far removed from the finished object.

There is something valuable in that openness. Transparency can mean traceability, standards and documentation. But it can also mean creating spaces where questions can be asked, processes can be understood and production does not need to disappear behind closed doors.

For an industry built on highly specialised knowledge, opening the doors can contribute to a wider culture of exchange: helping people understand the skill involved, learn from different approaches and take part in a broader conversation about how handmade rugs are made — and how they can be made better.

#transparencymatters #fairtrade #labelstep #benirugs by @labelstep

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a month ago