Urban employment Riyaz
School was not for Riyaz, the 15-year-old who came to Kolkata and was forced to acquire formal education. He dropped out in 8th grade and chose apprenticeship under his father, a master tailor. Tailoring obviously ran in his blood and when a friend connected him with CRC, there was no stopping his talent from flowering. Riyaz passed his first test, sampling cushion covers for CRC, with flying colours and landed himself an order of 1,275 pieces of table runners. Today, Riyaz runs his workshop with about 10 tailors. They produce household textiles such as bed covers, cushion covers, table cloth and runners, bags and scarves for the export and domestic markets. CRC sustains livelihoods for this marginalised urban producer group and injects elements of Fair Trade in the practice of their avocation.