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CSR Initiatives of the Group / Seth Family

Ethical Sourcing & People

In respect of the surging demand from consumers, House of Pearl Fashions Limited (HOPFL) ensures we conduct sustainable business practices and keep to the highest ethical sourcing standards. We realize the importance of being ethical in running our daily operations. The Group works with our retail partners to ensure a strong supplier code of conduct and have focused compliance teams in all the office locations we operate from. We conduct regular audits at factories to ensure the highest compliance standards are met at all times.

HOPFL is a firm believer in Equal Opportunity employer and has always stood for ethical processes, objectives, means and goals. People and employees are the assets of the company and have always been motivated to conduct themselves in the best of global traditions. Many initiatives have been heralded by the group since its inception which has led to the permanence of CSR initiatives both by the organization and Seth family.

Charitable Initiatives

Faiza Seth founded the Soham for Kids HOPE School in Hyderabad, India in 2010 because she believes that educating the impoverished is a long-term approach to help alleviate poverty. This strategy requires self-enabling individuals to permanently break the cycle of poverty and eventually provide for themselves and their families. Faiza developed the holistic concept of establishing this completely free school that not only delivers a well rounded education, but also provides food, clothing and healthcare to 100 children across four grades ranging from pre-school, lower kindergarten, upper kindergarten to first grade. Faiza will expand the school one grade each year as a result of the generous support from the HOPFL. Soham for Kids is one of a few charitable schools in India that is non-denominational promoting a culture of acceptance and open-mindedness.

Further efforts are being made to address the challenges faced by pupils’ parents and guardians by introducing vocational classes for adults after school hours to help them develop skills that could potentially earn an income to help support their families. This program has been initiated by the purchase of 12 sewing machines and the hiring of a teacher who helps impoverished women learn sewing skills.

Faiza takes a hands-on approach regularly travelling to the village of Mallapur where the school is situated to monitor Soham for Kids HOPE students’ progress, and the management and administration of the school. Applying the skills acquired from her Stanford MBA she operates the charity to make most efficient use of funds and insists on complete transparency including quarterly financial audits and publishing finances on her website www.sohamforkids.org.

Arpan Education An Initiative spearheaded by Mrs. Payal Seth and Ms. Shefali Seth is committed to the education and development of Children in New Delhi. Arpan Believes that the future of any individual, people, country or indeed the world lies in education.

Education is not only a right in itself, but an “enabling right”- a critical instrument for bringing about “social, economic and political inclusion and a durable integration of people, particularly those ‘excluded’ from the mainstream of any society. Children are the future of a nation. For an emerging and developing country like India, development of underprivileged children holds the key to the progress of the nation itself.

Arpan was started on 9 January 2006 to support the cause of underprivileged. Its aim is to support the school system to enable the underprivileged children to cope with the school work.

Education for underprivileged Children is the key whether we are addressing healthcare, poverty, population control, unemployment or human rights issues. The aim being that education should lead to change not only in the amount of knowledge gained but also in the abilities to do, to think and to acquire habits, skills and attitude which characterize an individual who is socially accepted and adjusted.

Meena Seth Charitable Clinic is a health clinic located in the Naraina Industrial Area, one of the most populated areas of New Delhi, India and was established in 1983 by the HOPFL Chairman, Deepak Seth to provide free medical care to impoverished people. The health clinic provides free consultancy, treatment and homeopathic medicines to the poorest ailing people in this area of New Delhi.

Pearl Academy

Pearl Academy is a pioneering institute of fashion technology imparting quality education in fashion for more than a decade. PAF has been set up by the Little People Education Society, a Society registered under the Society’s Registration Act 1860 and promoted by House of Pearl Fashions Ltd., one of India’s largest export houses.

"Our objective is to train professionals with a comprehensive range of cognitive and intellectual skills, planned to develop across a wide range of learning experiences."

The Academy graduates enjoy a very high employability among reputed organizations, as the Academy maintains a high status as India’s most prestigious provider of education & training for the fashion and related sectors. A number of PAF alumni are in key positions in the industry all over the world. The Academy takes pride in its high caliber faculty, outstanding track record in student exchange, international networking & placement.

The Academy has been able to grow steadily over the last decade or so, primarily on the foundations of its professionally trained faculty members, who have rich industry experience and are committed to continuing research and development. Being one of the finest institutes of fashion technology, our teaching is supported by the latest machinery, equipment and facilities. Besides this our activities and operations are closely linked with some of the best institutions in the world, as well as the industry.

The Academy has not only attained national and international repute for its pre-eminent status as an industry oriented, state-of-the-art training centre but is the first fashion institute in India to be certified under ISO-9001 : 2000. The certification under ISO-9001: 2000 evidences the implementation of prevailing global standards and systems such as Quality Manual, Quality Policy, Quality Assessment Procedures and Continuous Improvement mechanisms in the Academy.

Nurturing Creative Talent

Recognition and Promotion of Creative Talent

  • Creative Pearls: PAF organizes this interschool competition to provide a forum for school students to showcase their creative talent. Over the years it has become a popular event and gets large participation from school student’s community.
  • Student Project Competition: Business and Technology Department organizes this competition for best student project for students pursuing courses in Fashion, Textiles and related domains.
  • Prove a Point: Thus competition for all UG/PG students to prove their proposition on the floor in front of a Jury.

International Projects

DEFRA ProjectDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK and Govt of India organized ”shared talent India” an exciting cross cultural collaboration. This project is being implemented by London College of Fashion in association with Pearl Academy of Fashion. A collaborative design development exercise involving Indian designers, students from Pearl Academy of Fashion, London College of Fashion and AMFI, Amsterdam culminated in the prototype development of different sustainable products. The Shared Talent Project was launched in India during the India Fashion Week from 18th March to 22nd March, 2009. The six selected Indian & UK designers with selected AMFI, LCF and Pearl Academy students attended a collaborative workshop from July 17th to 25th to produce concepts showcasing the Indian Sustainable Textiles.

DelPHE ProjectPearl Academy of Fashion, University of Nortumbria (UK) and Dastkar are collaborating on an action research project “Sustainability and Equitable Development: Interventions in India’s Rural Craft Industry”. The project is funded by British Council under “Development of Program in Higher Education (DelPHE)”. In this project, faculty is experiencing craft related issues to develop systematic educational programs.

UKIERIThe Academy has been awarded 3 projects under UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative: (i) with Ravens Bourne College of Communication & Design for exploration of design and supply chain across India and UK. (ii) with Adam Smith College (Scotland) for building an understanding of collaborative work links between the Scottish and Indian education sector in the area of new media and (iii) with London College of Fashion for understanding skills required by graduates to bring in sustainability into the Fast Fashion industry.

Swiss India Collaborative Project "INTERMEZZO"After successfully completing 60 years of the friendship treaty between India and Switzerland in 2008, a celebration of this great friendship is being carried forward in 2009 under the theme ”Science and Education” at a fashion show held on 24th October 2009 at Swiss embassy. 35 collections of all PAF centers have been showcased in this show. This show was well appreciated by one and all including The Swiss Ambassador His Excellency Mr. Philippe Welti.

Scholarships

Merit ScholarshipsThe Academy has instituted one Merit Scholarship for each (program) course with at least 25 enrolments at all Centers to the enrollee who registers the best performance through all pertinent admission tests and the interview, subject to minimum requirements of performance. The Scholarship waives payment of tuition fee only. The waiver is granted in the first year and continues in the subsequent year(s) on condition that the awardees academic performance in the first year meets the prescribed standards of achievement. Educational Loan facilitation is available to the awardees in the first year to cover other payable fees/charges. Scholarship donors are HOUSE OF PEARL FASHIONS LTD., RICHA & CO., SHAHI EXPORTS, MODELAMA EXPORTS, PEARL ACADEMY OF FASHION and MERIDIAN APPARELS LIMITED.

Loan FacilityThe Academy has tied up for Education loan facility with HDFC Bank Ltd. for education loan facilities. The bank will extend this facility to students of Pearl Academy of Fashion for funding their Program / Course of study (subject to standard Bank conditions). Selected students who are desirous of availing education loan facility are required to contact, Manager (Accounts) at Pearl Academy of Fashion, New Delhi.

Alumni ActivitiesAcademy organizes alumni get-together on annual basis that pro=ides then a forum to renew their relations with Pearl. PAF also provides seed money to alumni on select basis for showcasing work at professional forums.

SamanvayaIt is an art exhibition held every year for displaying collections/Creative Expression of Pearl Faculty Members.

Working with other social organizations

CSR Activity at Sai Sansthan, NoidaStudents and Faculty were given opportunity to interact with children of Sai Sansthan, an NGO at Noida. The 110 children greeted them with “Sai Ram” as they were given their art kit of paper, pencil, eraser, sharpener and crayons. The students and faculty spent the entire afternoon with them, interacting with them and watching their faces light up with joy to see their work being acknowledged by complete strangers. They were served sumptuous snacks followed by chocolates. It was an emotional barter of gratitude and joy as we came back with cherished memories. The art works of these children were on display at PAF Delhi Campus. The proceeds from the activity have gone towards buying them 3-in-1 notebooks for their English, Hindi and math class.

Training provided at schoolOn the 17th of April 2010, the Plan Clan group visited a school for autistic children in west Delhi. The school required a small training to creative crafts that can be sold in the market to help them bring in funds to sustain their organization. Some teachers, parents and children themselves learned to make some imaginative and inspired products.

Pratibimb 2010Plan Clan group volunteered for activities at Pratibimb 2010-an annual event that brings together children from far flung villages and their city school counterparts. April 18th -20th at Community Center at Sarita Vihar, Satyagrah Mandap at Gandhi Smriti, Darshan Samiti near Rajghat.

Weaving Behind Bars (Tihar Jail Project)Pearl Academy of Fashion has joined hands with India Vision Foundation which runs the vocational training centre at Tihar Jail to empower women prisoners by being a part of their weaving behind bars project. The weaving project aims to teach the women inmates weaving and entrepreneurial skills. These skills learnt in Jail, would help them gain financial independence after their release and would also be a way of restoring their self confidence and utilizing their time constructively. This project also gives the inmates, the power and a mode of self-expression. They put their thoughts, hopes and dreams down into weaving and the end product is incredible.

A team from Pearl Academy of Fashion is now working on the product styling of an inventory of 2000 woven samples of different sizes which have been developed by the inmates. The Pearl Academy team will also be developing new designs for weaving using hand frames. The team will give complete design directions which will help the inmates develop complete collections.

Pearl Academy of Fashion aims to support India Vision Foundation in terms of design intervention. There is an inventory of previously woven 2000 samples of different sizes developed by the inmates. Seema Mahajan and Prachi Mehrotra planned product styling of these samples. Prachi Mehrotra is developing new designs for weaving on the hand frames.

Jharkhand ProjectA meeting has been held with the Jharkhand Rural Development Authorities to help them in developing products like motifs, prints and woven fabrics. It is decided to take it as a class room project by the Textile students.

Working with Industry Bodies

Asian Paints (CKS) ProjectColor Induction program for Asian Paints: Ms. Nien Siao is working on a research and development project to research the need for Asian Paints Sales Officer to undergo training in color. An ethnography survey was conducted in Mumbai, Bangalore to identify needs. The color training module and color kit is being developed at present. The color training kit has been tested and the project is about to over.

Green RoomPearl Academy of Fashion in association with Happy Hands Foundation organized a Craft Week ‘‘Green Room’. The Workshop was inaugurated by Group Director followed by a panel discussion on the relevance and important of Indian Textiles. The panel members were Ms. Namrata Dalela (Textile conservator at the National Museum Institute), Mr. Ananda Upadhyay (Mentor of the Textile artists from Madhya Pradesh), Ms. Seema Mahajan, Ms. Usha Patel, Ms. Ambika Magotra. Different points of views were shared by all panelists. Students too participated by asking relevant questions on textiles, conservation etc. An over-all sense of knowledge was imparted to the students on working towards preserving and conserving traditional crafts before they fade and become obsolete.

NCDPDMs.Seema Singh, Assistant Professor conducted 5 sessions of a training program for the artisans on pattern making for NCDPD under their Skill Development Program.

LI & FungAcademy has been engaged by Li & Fung India (Private)Limited, New Delhi to train the staff of their company (Target Group) in product, material, manufacturing and costing knowledge and develop customized training models in relation thereto.

Details Exports - OkhlaMr. Tarun Pandey has been working on a project for "Productivity Improvement" at Details Exports, Okhla. It involves setting up of the Industrial Engineering Department and subsequently gearing the production department for maximum productivity.

LI & Fung WorkshopAcademy organized a workshop (Technical Training program] for Li & Fung India. The training had both hardlines consisting of home and hard furnishings, hard goods; and Soft lines consisting of Fabrics, Weaving, Yarns and Machine & Productions. The workshop was conducted for 120 hours.

Some other activities

  • Training of women embroidery workers in Mewat - a region being developed by GAP
  • Human Trafficking Project led by PAF students

            
  • Study on Ergonomics for garment factory workers and embroidery workers
  • Workshop to help fabricators and job workers to improve their business models
  • Studies on Carbon Credits in the Apparel Industry
  • Development of Sustainable Washing Processes
  • Art Workshops for children of poorer communities
  • Collection of clothes etc for under privileged
  • Reducing electricity, power, paper consumption at the college
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