Commissioning 250 rugs without orders isn’t just unusual

Commissioning 250 rugs without orders isn’t just unusual.
It’s risky.

Every rug ties up capital.
Every loom needs planning.
Every decision affects dozens of families.

We at Understorey knew this going in.

But letting skilled weavers drift into lower-quality work or worse, leave the craft altogether felt like a bigger risk.

Each loom supports 3-4 weavers on average.
Multiply that by 250 looms, and you’re looking at livelihoods that depend on continuity.

What made this harder was that each rug was treated individually.
This wasn’t a bulk production decision.

For nearly two months, we reviewed:
•⁠ ⁠size
•⁠ ⁠knot quality
•⁠ ⁠colour direction
•⁠ ⁠design structure
•⁠ ⁠dyeing and washing approach

Every rug was approved one by one before being issued to the loom.

Some days we approved five.
Some days ten.
But we never treated this like a factory run.

The intention was simple:
Keep expert weavers working at the level they belong.

Because once that skill is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

📌 P.S. Part 2 of the One of A Kind series, about choosing continuity over caution.