Sumi striped shawl & stole D2C cooperative

Sumi Naga households across Zunheboto weave distinctive red-black-white horizontal-stripe textiles — ceremonial shawls and contemporary scarves — but production is scattered across dozens of subsistence weavers with no shared channel. This cooperative organises 40-60 women weavers, standardises a tight range built on the district's craft base, and sells direct rather than through middlemen who capture most of the margin. It builds on Zunheboto's living Sumi weaving tradition and pairs it with the district's bamboo craft base for packaging and loom accessories. The honest constraint is not demand but consistency: dye fastness across natural and synthetic batches, reproducible stripe geometry, and on-time delivery from a remote, road-thin hill district. Start with stoles — highest margin per loom-day — then add shawls and runners once a metro buyer relationship holds. Design must adapt for urban buyers without diluting Sumi identity, the line every imitator gets wrong. Buyers: heritage-textile e-tailers, curated craft retailers, Naga-diaspora gifting, and slow-fashion D2C. The capex covers improved looms, a shared dye facility, raw-yarn stock, and branding; payback is patient because buyer trust is built one season at a time.