AOW Insider : A Conversation with Colleen and Margaret Clines of the Anchal Project
This month, I am honored to interview Colleen and Margaret Clines, co-founders of the Anchal Project, a sustainable home decor and textile brand. Working alongside artists in India, Anchal is known for its bold, quilted designs.
Colleen Clines was taking a graduate seminar class at the Rhode Island School of Design when she embarked on a trip to India in 2009. Through local leadership, she was introduced to women who were being exploited by the commercial sex trade. This left a mark. She was inspired to collaborate with the local NGO and soon her enterprise came to fruition.
Sisters Margaret and Colleen remain humble about the success of their endeavor. They started Anchal not knowing exactly what they were getting themselves into. But after years of experience and determination, they have grown it into a strong brand that stands out in the market. Anchal is a non-profit which operates as a business, driving impact through product sales rather than donations. They feel this approach has been key to long term sustainability.
I am honored to have this duo on my platform. They were kind enough to share tips, insights and lessons learned along the way.
I hope you enjoy our discussion!
Could you introduce our readers to the Anchal Project and your non-profit’s work in India?
Anchal was founded as a true collaboration between the non-profit we formed here in the United States, Anchal, and our NGO partner in India, Vatsalya. This connection was the origin of the project and remains of utmost importance to our work.
Vatsalya, which is based in Ajmer, Rajasthan, connected with Anchal. They were in search of training and entrepreneurial opportunities for female commercial sex workers and survivors of domestic violence. Anchal met this need by providing seed funding, design training, and access to a global market. In exchange, our partners recruit Anchal artisans and manage operations. More importantly, they offer the women a community of support, health programs, education workshops, counseling and local leadership that builds trust within a vulnerable population. Together we offer a unique program model. 100% of our proceeds are put back into the program to support our current artisans and provide additional opportunities to more women.
What does your current business model look like? Do you sell both wholesale and direct to consumer?
We do sell both wholesale and direct to consumer. Anchal began as a webstore in 2010. It wasn’t until 2016 that we entered into the world of trade shows and larger wholesale partnerships. Wholesale accounted for 60% of our sales in 2019. Since our first show at NY NOW, Anchal has seen significant growth not only in sales and brand awareness, but in custom collaborations like those we have with the Guggenheim Museum and Madewell. We now show at Shoppe Object where we continue to connect with supportive brands and retailers.
What should brands consider when moving from wholesale to online?
As wonderful as online sales can be, there are plenty of unforeseen challenges. From developing a marketing and advertising strategy to creating a plan for product to building a large enough archive of lifestyle photography, there are a multitude of steps that need to happen before launching an online store. Beyond that, perfecting the user experience is a never-ending project. We are always striving to create a seamless online shopping experience for our customers.
Did you invest in advertising, SEO marketing, online consulting, or any other help to gain traffic to your website?
Anchal has had several iterations of our website since 2010. Until last year we built and managed the site ourselves, first through Wordpress and then through a Shopify template. We really had no idea what we were doing and focused mostly on the visual side. That ended up hurting our organic traffic and the success of our Google ads in the long run because we did not consider the importance of SEO, alt text, image sizing, and keywords. My suggestion is to work with an expert e-commerce consultant on building the content of your site. We got around paying huge fees for a developer by using a Shopify template and then customizing it with the Shopify expert team. We also have recently shifted to working with an agency for our digital advertising which has made a major difference with our direct sales. We bootstrapped it for many years, but I am glad to have reached a point where we can invest dollars – it has been worth it.
Why did you decide to start a nonprofit arm? Do you suggest other brands who are dedicated to one partner in a specific country go this route?
When we started in 2010, we went the non-profit route mostly because of our own naivety. We assumed that because we wanted to do good, we should be a non-profit. Though it may have been due to lack of knowledge and experience, we are now steadfast in the model that we have created because it holds us accountable to transparency and sustainable impact for the women we serve. Our long-term commitment to full-time work for this one group of 160 artisans has led to incredible friendships and a truly impactful investment in the community over the last nine years.
What are three tips you would offer those who are new to the field?
Listen - whether you are listening to the artisans you work with or the customers you serve, there are always opportunities to learn and grow.
Collaborate - acknowledging early on that we were far from experts allowed us to collaborate and learn from amazing activists and advocates. The most beautiful solutions come from creative collaboration.
Be patient - in our fast-paced world it’s easy to be impatient, but change doesn’t happen overnight and growing a business takes time. A positive gratitude and mediation practice are great reminders to be patient along your journey. Always remember to celebrate the wins, however small, before moving on to the next goals.
What are three things you wish you had known before you got started?
No one really knows what they are doing so follow your gut.
Invest in your website.
Appreciate the nuance, handmade textiles are never “perfect”.
What do you think has led to your success as a brand?
Dedication and patience are incredibly important to fostering sustainable change within a community. It wasn’t easy to see immediate, tangible impact when we first started. We questioned if the program would work. Slowly we started to hear more and more amazing stories of empowerment. Over the past ten years, the artisans we work with have gone from investing in fresh foods to their daughters’ education to home improvements and now they invest in themselves, buying new jewelry and smartphones!
One of the most important elements of impact is community. Developing a program for employment was one thing. Creating a space for friendship, vulnerability and empowerment was something completely different. It’s important to remember the immeasurable emotional shifts in an individual’s life, because those can often be the most valuable.
https://anchalproject.org/