The Good Doll is the market-linking arm of a social enterprise ecosystem anchored by Indian Yards Foundation in The Nilgiris mountain range in southern India. With the mission to make gifting conscious, The Good Doll offers a range of products that are utilitarian, handmade by women from rural and indigenous tribal women using natural materials, offers traceability and comes eco-packaged in 100% biodegradable gift boxes. This range covers home & living, children and lifestyle applications that are relevant across a variety of occasions. The products are contemporary and a perfect gift for a purpose driven consumer.
Purpose
Indian Yards Foundation was started to up-skill and enable women from rural & indigenous communities to the economic mainstream. They soon realized that this effort will be truly sustainable only if they empower these women towards their entrepreneurial journey and simultaneously build a strong market linkage. Thus the birth of The Good Gift. They were conscious that while they build this economic empowerment, they should also ensure that they are not burdening the planet. They, hence, took the path to building a conscious gifting value chain. Good for you, good for the artisan and good for the planet.
People
They work with 53 women from rural & indigenous communities across the Nilgiris - Ooty, Coonoor and Gudalur being the primary regions. Most of these women were either stay-at-home mothers or daily wagers before enrolling with them. They now contribute a significant percentage to their household income hence, have started to experience financial freedom, participate in household decision making, have access to better education & nutrition for themselves and their children. Their continuous capacity building efforts with these women has resulted in some of the women taking up leadership roles within the ecosystem and becoming role models for the others in the community.
Planet
They prioritize local and ethically sourced materials including handloom cotton fabrics, natural dyes, recycled yarns, and wood from responsibly managed forests. Each product is handmade so no use of machines. The production process is zero waste which means waste generated from the main production is upcycled to produce smaller items. The entire gift box and it’s contents are 100% biodegradable. Their product development follows the utilitarian approach to ensure utility of the range and they maintain very high quality to ensure longer life for the product so lesser waste.
