Lack of agricultural land and decreasing demand for indigenous handcrafted products have forced the locals to migrate to urban cities, and leave behind their craft and unique culture in exchange for underpaid jobs with inhumane working conditions.

The rural villages in the hills of North India are facing frequent forest fires, erratic weather patterns, increasing temperatures and depletion natural resources. This has adversely affected not only the biodiversity but also the very survival of the local communities.

In the local markets, inexpensive machine-made goods, popular due to their cost and aspirational value have replaced the indigenously produced items, which would otherwise have sustained the local economy. This is causing a rapid depletion of indigenous skills in the region, which was traditionally known to rank high on social indices.

Peoli is reviving the demand for traditional skills and products. They are working to provide livelihoods to women in their own region and selling their products internationally.

They use organic dyes extracted from walnut hulls, brazilwood, indigo and rhododendron. The natural dyeing process, unlike chemical dyes, leaves a negligible footprint on the environment and the health of their artisans. Peoli has a rainwater harvesting system in place, where the water purified after dyeing and repeated washing is released back into the earth.

They have committed to work only with organic raw materials such as wool, cotton, silk and low-impact materials like Himalayan hemp and nettle. They have the traditional ‘Bageshwari Charkha’ where women artisans spin wool. The founders of Peoli admit their concern for Peoli which is the lack of transparency in sourcing raw materials, especially in the absence of certifications. Limited local knowledge about ethical practices attached to rearing sheep or growing cotton makes ensuring raw material is ethically sourced extremely tricky. 

Ethically sourced materials like Eri silk, organic Kala cotton, Nagaland hill cotton and Merino wool are combined with indigenous materials like Harsil wool, Himalayan hemp and nettle to enhance their comfort and aesthetic appeal. A similar synthesis is applied in crafting the products where local craft skills like handloom weaving and knitting are ingeniously merged with hand embroidery, beadwork and shibori.

Eco-Age covers the sustainable story of Peoli and observes, "Like any other manufacturer, Peoli has to also deal with deadstock, offcuts and tiny pieces of yarns that cannot be used to produce an entirely new garment on their own. To do so, the unsold pieces are unravelled and knitted back into another garment while the offcuts or tiny pieces are stitched together to create something new or used to create tassels. Not only does Peoli use up its own waste, but they also source waste raw materials from other organisations in the vicinity and transform them."

They control their carbon footprint through their initial steps of operating a manual spinning wheel, harvesting rainwater or setting up ways to harness solar energy. They have also associated themselves with organisations that are working towards creating a positive environmental impact. The packaging boxes used for their organically dyed wool balls are made from water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic plant which slowly suffocates and kills the water body in which it grows.

Knitting comes naturally to the women of this region and by giving them an opportunity to utilise this skill, Peoli is trying to ensure that the talent of these women generates an actual livelihood. They are also supporting the artisans in expanding their existing skillset. Apart from knitting, they have trained women to spin and dye, and are also attempting to instill administrative skills.

Peoli is a wild yellow flower, which blooms during the spring all along the hills of Uttarakhand. The bright yellow is a symbol of hope and warmth when it appears after the long harsh winter; hence the Peoli flower holds a valuable place in local folklore.