Alpine Nepal Carpet

Nepal is to introduce a new policy to control child labor in the carpet industry which is one of the country’s major sources of foreign exchange.

The Nepali government will issue child labor free certificates to carpet factories which do not use child labor in their production, an official of the Industry Ministry.

The government had been inspecting carpet industries and taking action against those employing child workers since last year in the wake of child labor complaints from Germany, the major overseas market for Nepalese carpets, the official said. He said the government had decided to issue child labor free certificates to the industry who are working in child labor free environment. (more…)

The handmade carpet industry exploits nearly 300,000 children in South Asia and is a major “employer” of child labor. Children ages 4 to 14 are kidnapped or trafficked, then sold into debt bondage or forced labor. They are subject to malnutrition, impaired vision and deformities from sitting long hours in cramped loom sheds. They suffer respiratory diseases from inhaling wool fibers and wounds from using sharp tools.

Rugs are among South Asia’s top export products and a high-employment sector for the poor. If child exploitation is a norm in a country’s principle industry, there is little chance to break the cycle of extreme poverty. (more…)

Nepalese carpets are different from any other carpet available on the world market because they are knotted on rods rather than on straight warps.

MANUFACTURING Carpets in Nepal
The majority of our carpets have been produced in five small factories owned by one family in Nepal. This family has been in the carpet business since 1970, three generations of designing as well as manufacturing all their own rugs without the use of child labor. In 2001 they received a prestigious award in Paris for their unique designs. (more…)

Prior to 1984, no machineries were used in the production process. The whole process from the sorting of the wool to the packaging stage of the finished product was carried out by hand process. The production process of Nepalese Tibetan carpet include:

Wool sorting & Washing
Wool from Tibet is generally imported in raw form requiring careful sorting to pick-out the foreign particles such as vegetable materials. The Tibetan wool also requires washing to remove dirts and executive greases which is followed by sun drying for two to three days. The Tibetan wool has a strong good fiber length is imported in scoured form, good luster and a high resilient value. The New Zealand wool are of 36 micron, 100 mm barb length and is identified as type 128. British wool meeting regulatory standards have also started being available in the market. (more…)

The art of weaving is an old tradition in the Nepal, especially in the mountainous region of the country. Radii, Pakhi, Bakkhu, Darhi (with pile) are well-known Nepalese products produced in these regions using indigenous wool. The marketing of these products was confined to the domestic market.

The development of an export quality carpet was initiated with the influx of the Tibetan refugees in the early sixties. Credit goes to the Swiss Agency for Technical Assistance (SATA) for their contribution, in the development of the carpet industry in Nepal through financial & technical support to the Tibetan refugees re-settlement programs. In the beginning, it was launched as a source of livelihood for the Tibetan refugees and marketing was limited to tourists visiting the kingdom. Efforts to gain access in the international market arena paid-off in 1964 when the first commercial shipment left to Europe, namely Switzerland. With vision and entrepreneur skill it transformed into a nationally recognized commercial commodity and remains the most important export product from Nepal. (more…)