1'000 Rakhi?

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The Rakhi-Bracelets of Raymond Fair Traders at the ORMAS stall in Puri.

Raksha Bandhan was celebrated this year on 28 August. The festival marks the bond between siblings and is traditionally observed on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravana. Sisters tie a blessed thread, a Rakhi, around the wrist of their brothers or cousins, who in return traditionally promise their protection and often give a gift.

In July, shortly before the festival, Pintu received an enquiry from ORMAS asking whether Raymond Fair Traders could produce 1,000 Rakhis. Only a few days earlier, representatives from ORMAS had visited Raymond Fairtraders in Shri Ramachandrapur and had shown a lot of interest in the products. So when the enquiry came, we were excited. It sounded like a promising opportunity to produce a larger quantity for the national market. We paused some of the other product development we had been working on and started sampling immediately.

Developing the first Rakhis

The first sampling rounds were a very enjoyable process. We experimented with different colours, forms and combinations, while Pintu and Pallabi calculated the prices for the individual designs. Once we had developed a small range, Pintu sent photographs of the samples to his contact at ORMAS.

The first feedback was slightly disappointing: they wanted the Rakhis to be much more visibly made from coconut fibre. At the same time, there was something encouraging in this feedback. ORMAS explained that they were particularly interested in the coconut fibre because they had not found comparable Rakhis elsewhere. What initially felt like a rejection of the first designs was therefore also a confirmation that this material could give RFT something distinctive. So we went back to the samples, looked at what could be adapted and developed another round of variations in which the coconut fibre became much more visible.

The Rakhis were a great opportunity to involve everyone in the very first stage of the design process.
We took all the boxes of materials out of storage. At first, the only condition for choosing components was that there had to be enough of them to make around 200 bracelets.
The first prototypes combined careful craftsmanship with a few “shiny things” — gold-coloured or glittery plastic beads and stones — to appeal to local tastes while keeping the price affordable.

The Misunderstanding

As the delivery date moved closer, I encouraged Pintu and Pallabi to ask for an official written order specifying the quantities, prices and delivery conditions. That confirmation never came. Only later did it become clear why.

RFT was already well into production when it became clear that ORMAS was not actually going to purchase the Rakhis from RFT. Instead, they would provide a sales opportunity: A government-organised market stall in Puri where RFT could sell the products directly. We had thought that the Rakhis would be distributed through several outlets, which would have provided an interesting opportunity to test the products in different locations. Had we understood from the beginning that the products would mainly be sold at one stall in Puri, we might also have developed the designs differently – for example, with a stronger connection to local preferences and symbols such as Jagannath. It was an important reminder of how much apparently small details in communication can influence product development. But Pintu did not get discouraged and the work continued.

A selection of the Rakhi Designs where the Coconut Coir is visible.

The Reality of Selling at the Market

The new arrangement also changed the economics of the opportunity. Instead of producing an order and delivering it, Pintu and one RFT employee would need to spend an entire week at the market stall in Puri. This meant staff time on top of production costs. RFT also had no influence over how the stall itself was designed or which other products were displayed there. Alongside RFT's handmade products, the stall included products from other artisan groups at considerably lower prices, as well as machine-made Rakhis. Competing with these products on price was neither realistic nor something RFT wanted to do. Financially, the sales days therefore did not turn out to be particularly profitable. But besides some official visits at the stall, something equally important came out of the experience.

ORMAS officials visiting the stall in Puri.

What "staying on Brand" means for Raymond Fair Traders

Pintu was especially frustrated by the machine-made Rakhis being sold at a stall promoted around artisans and handicraft. He raised this concern directly with ORMAS. For him, the experience led to a clearer conclusion about where RFT should position itself. Trying to compete with cheap, mass-produced products is unlikely to create a sustainable future for the group. If RFT wants to cover the real costs of careful production, materials and labour, its products need to be recognised for what they are: thoughtfully made, high-quality handmade objects – and priced accordingly. This may sound like a simple conclusion, but for us it marked an important shift in the conversation.

So the 1'000 Rakhis did not become the straightforward large order we had first imagined. But the process offered something else: another practical lesson in what it means to move from making products towards building a business.