Thank you for your interest in on our publication!
We are the group of people who wants to solve social issues through business.
In 2011, we started our first project “Waraji project”.
What we aim for?
The project aim for solving 2 social issues.
- Inheriting the disappearing Japanese waraji tradition.
- Several social issues, especially related to manufacturing industry, in Bangladesh.
How do we challenge this?
We create waraji sandal in Bangladesh with what we call “win-win-win business model” for the producer, the seller, and the consumer. Specifically, what we do is by using natural materials, we secure artisans safe working environment and by partnership with local group, we make sure we pay reasonable wages for artisans. We believe this is a win situation for producers.In addition, we hope we could provide opportunities to learn other skills that may lead to increase their income if they are willing to in the future. And of course,if we can sell products, we could get funds for our activities and for commissioning the next production. This is a win situation for us. And lastly, we believe that dealing and using products that are made with full of love and transparency in production, people tend to take care of it more carefully so it will last longer and they’ll respects it. This would be a win situation for the seller and the consumer. We believe this win- win-win businesses model could be a future circular business model.
What is “Waraji sandal”?
Waraj is a traditional Japanese footwear, and the ancient waraj is made of straw after harvesting rice. Waraji has been made in Japan since ancient times, and traditional “waraji” were made of straw. However, as time went by, the number of producers and consumers decreased. The inheritance of this traditional culture has become a problem,and a solution to this problem is needed.Waraji sandals we sell are made by local craftsmen in cooperation with local partners, who sourcing materials locally and kept traditional way of manufacturing its products. In order to challenge two social issues, inheriting this culture in a creative way and solving the poverty problem in Bangladesh, we started manufacturing waraji in Bangladesh.
Why does it has to be Bangladesh, not other country?
You may wonder why it has to be Bangladesh, although there are so many other countries suffering from poverty problems. The reason why we chose Bangladesh is because of its social background and its high affinity with waraji. Bangladesh is one of the countries in the world that rice is the staple food and with a thriving jute industry because they can source raw materials when they harvesting rice. Thus, we thought if we manufacture waraji in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi might get involved in this project more than other countries and it could lead to encouraging local business in different way and traditional culture in Bangladesh. At the beginning of the project, we were working on the idea of making waraji from locally available straw. However, when the team members went to the site to actually start the project, they found that straw is used for other reasons locally and it was a very precious material. We found out that it was not practical idea.We can’t create a “sustainable”design product just because from marketing reason. Therefore, we decided to use 100% cotton clothes we can get from the local market since Bangladesh has lots of cotton materials from textile factories.
What you can expect to hear from us on medium?
We will write about production process, people, socal issues (disappearing of japan’s tradition in Japan & porvty in Bangladesh)we are challenging in detail. You can get inspiration, deep knowledge of related topics.
Lastly…
can you guess where does “Ami tumi”(brand name) come from?
In bangal, amitumi means “ me and you”
Brand name and logo has a message that we want to cherish the relationship between japan and Bangladesh, amitumi and you.
