Women in Pakistan have strong embroidery and garment embellishment skills, passing local traditional styles and techniques from generation to generation. Yet due to their limited mobility, these women have had to accept low compensation for their products at local markets or through sales to intermediaries who buy low and profit from resale in higher-value urban markets.

Either way, village artisans earn only small amounts for their painstakingly elaborate creations.

Since 1998, Kaarvan Crafts Foundation has worked with women in rural communities to strengthen their skills and business capacities and now links more than 5,000 artisan producers of hand-embellished fabric with retail shops and wholesalers. Now Kaarvan is taking the process a step further by assisting producers with direct access to the end customers with finished product, thereby increasing their profit exponentially.

To bridge that gap, Kaarvan partnered with USAID to develop a brand, Threadworks, which represents the best quality craftsmanship the artisans can provide to supply higher value markets both domestically and internationally with their products.

For months leading up to a recent gala exhibition Threadworks products, USAID trained the women from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces to work with designers, source raw materials, collaborate with tailors, and cost and price their wares. USAID also guided the artisans through a creative process of using color collections and contemporary designs to increase the value in the eyes of the customers.

"In preparing for this exhibition we learned so much about new designs that potential customers like," said Ms. Abida Ashraf, a female sale agent representing embellishers from the village of Dera Masti in Bahawalpur. "We hope to generate many orders from this event, and look forward to applying all the things we learned from this exhibition to the next one in the fall."

At the exhibition, Threadworks presented a collection of hand embellished apparel and accessories, fusing traditional embellishment skills with modern motifs and color palettes, the first in what will be a series of initiatives to revive Pakistani's garment-making heritage and to celebrate the art of hand embellishments.

"I was not expecting products that were at this level of quality," customer Natasha De Sousa, a video producer, said. "I was very impressed with the designs and the quality of the execution. I look forward to next collection of products." Other customers included retail store buyers, wholesale exporters, as well as individuals looking for their favorite design.

During the exhibition all the women's hard work paid off, resulting in receipts of approximately $4,000 for women whose baseline annual income is about $38, illustrating the potential of the brand. Indeed, the exhibition spurred interest in the Threadworks; many local high end retail shops are placing large new orders.

The 500-odd women of Threadworks have surpassed social and cultural restrictions to develop their product collections, learning in a hands-on environment how to expand their businesses. Their increased income has improved the standard of living for their entire families.