NGO introduced The 'Craftmark' tag. It stated that All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) is aimed at giving handicraft products a stamp of quality and prevent haggling over the price. Many of the products being sold here at the Nature Bazar at Dilli Haat (Nov 16-30) have the Craftmark tag.
AIACA director Adarsh Kumar informs that the branding gives the product its distinct identity that it is a genuine product and not machine made, that it adheres to a certain quality standard and, most important, customers cannot haggle over the price.
The NGO has targeted the US in its first foray overseas. A private firm has been hired to promote Craftmark products for sale in retail stores there, but nothing concrete has taken shape yet.
He also stated that they are targeting volume sales. Through the Craftmark tag, they are working towards a stage when all Indian handicrafts sold abroad will be under one brand name. The tagging has the approval of artisans like Choti Yadav, a member of the NGO Sadhana (Seva Mandir) who has a stall at Dilli Haat, which brings handicraftsmen from all over India and is hugely popular with Indians and foreigners.
Now when customers try to haggle, they point to the tag and say this is the price fixed for the product. No matter where you buy it - whether at the place where it has been made or even in a distant part of the country - it will cost the same said the 20-something woman artisan from Udaipur in Rajasthan. She has been with AIACA for 16 years.
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