Uppada Kothapalli Handloom Clothproducer Company Limited

Over here in Vakatippa, Kothapalli, things move a bit slower than in the big cities. We are at 2-45, which is a spot most people in the village know. This is where the Uppada Kothapalli Handloom Clothproducer Company Limited is based. It’s basically a gathering of people who know their way around a loom. You can hear the rhythmic clicking of the machines if you walk down the street near our place. It’s a sound we have grown up with. The building we use is older, with high ceilings to keep it cool while the sun beats down outside. We spend a lot of time talking about thread counts and dye colors. Sometimes the colors don't come out exactly as we thought, so we have to sit and figure it out. It’s not like a factory where everything is automated. Real people are doing the work here. We have stacks of finished cloth sitting on the wooden shelves, waiting to be packed. It’s a lot of manual labor, and our hands are often stained with different colors. We don’t have a big marketing budget or a fancy website. We just keep making things and hope people like them. Neighbors stop by to say hello or to borrow a tool. It feels like a community more than just a company. That’s just the way it works in our part of the world.