Superwoman: “Hansiba” A Woman Brand

Remember all the times when everyone said that ‘age is just a number’ well our today’s superwoman has proved the quote right. Hansiba, a popular clothing brand around the globe but not many know about the lady whose name this clothing brand uses and has rose to fame. SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) titled Hansiba as something of a brand ambassador for Gujarat’s traditional handicrafts industry.

From earning 12 anna per day to 2rs per day and then to 10rs per day in a very short span of time period, Hansiba earned it this increase in her payroll all by her determination to work.  Just by the hardwork she does every day, Hansiba, a 95 year old (in 2013) in Gujarat has become the face of indigenous fashion in the state. From walking the roads of drought hit Banaskantha (now in Pakistan) to walking into a fashion show in Lahore in 2013 where SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) exhibited their clothing line named after her “HANSIBA”. Married at the age of 19 to Vaghabhai, Hansiba had to work both within the house and outside in the fields too because of his lame husband. Already physically stressed out of the work in the field and within the house, Hansiba suffered a mental setback when only 5 of her kids could survive out of 8. Blessed with the art of doing handcrafts, sewing, knitting, spinning cotton and embroidery, Hansiba was the first artist to accept the idea of SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) of creating a line of clothes made completely by the handcrafts artists.

Even after having a global brand named after her, fame never inflated Hansiba with ego or selfishness. Even back then in 2013, her prime concern was to feed her cattle and milking her buffaloes. Hansiba just accepted things as it were happening to her and her family. Hansiba just focused on her work and provided the best she could provide to SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). Hansiba grabbed international headlines and attraction when American Politician Hillary Clinton bought apparels from the Hansiba outlet in Mumbai worth Rs. 40,000. SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) started a museum after the name of Hansiba that states it stands for, by and of the women.

A museum after her name, an internationally cloth line brand named after and a woman who was the face of fashion even at age of 95, Hansiba even after achieving all these feasts never did anything against the family rulebook. She maintained and stayed by the limits and never flaunted her success to the ones who were either less successful or incapable of it. Even after suffering cataract, Hansiba managed to continue her embroidery work.

Hansiba is the proof and an idol to every woman out there who wants to become a superwoman. Being just an ordinary and simple village woman she achieved all of this mainly just because of three qualities that were being trustworthy, determined and hardworking. For all of us, she is an ideal woman to look up for an example of an instance where the ordinary did the extraordinary.