ICF offers design, skill and technical know how to organisations. Some of the initiatives that they have pioneered are as follows:

1. Design Initiative
   Manapad Palm Leaf Weavers Society
2. Skill Initiative
   Banana rope and furniture sourcing Centre at Padavedu
3. Technical Initiative
   Grass Mat Weavers Society at Viravanallur

Design Initiative

Manapad Palm Leaf Weavers Society

The Manapad Palm Leaf Weavers Society comprised of 300 women members who made low cost fibre products like palm leaf trays and shopping baskets for tourists. Industree started work with them in 1996 and visually transformed their products with the use of solid colour. To reinforce the wear and tear of the product they also introduced stronger weaves . Industree also extended the range of the product by adding utility items like dustbins, storage boxes and laundry bins giving them a fashionable and contemporary edge. The results were immediately visible with a jump in sales. They even caught the eye of global customer Target.

Based on customer feed back Industree reinforced a few products and developed new products of palm leaf in conjunction with metal and wood.

Skill Initiative

Banana Rattan Centre at Padavedu.

India is the largest banana producing nation and has tremendous scope in promoting allied production as a rural livlihood. Padavedu in Vellore was identified as a region rich in banana cultivation and Industree trained and developed a cluster with the help of Sreenivasan Trust to produce banana bark yarn. During peak production the group is able to produce 10 lakh meters a month. This has pushed up the income of over 100 women by Rs1800 (US$42.80) per month.

Global companies are looking to source vast quantities of banana bark home accessories and furniture from India.

Technical Initiative

Grass Mat Weavers Society at Viravanallur.

Industree panned out into the villages of Viravanallur, Pattamadal, Tekkumpatti and Arikesavannalur to source weavers to fulfill a large design order from Japan. Weavers in the area had the skill to weave a very basic 16-count mat and the order required an 80 count weave. Industree mobilized its resources and trained weavers to meet the target. The weavers saw the commercial potential when their incomes tripled. Industree soon set up office in this cluster and and trained over 600 weavers and non-weavers through Ambedkar Hastha Shilpa Vikas Yojana from the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts

Today the weavers are able to incorporate tye and dye techniques into their mats, which are a great success in the global market. They have introduced diamond cut and patterned motifs to their inventory of skills. They have gone on to process orders for Crate & Barrel and Interface UK.

To promote growth, Industree has built up facilities like a centralized dyeing unit and tanks to soak the grass so that standardized processes will be in place to ensure consistency in colour and uniform quality of material. The centre also keeps a tab on timelines as well.