Himalayan Knot | How Royal Enfield and its riders document the culture of the Northeast

It’s a warm day in the Chirang district of Bongaigaon, a two-hour drive from Guwahati, Assam. We are at the handloom section of the ANT (Action North East) campus. Since last year, Royal Enfield has been collaborating with the NGO – which works to empower women and create voluntary action in North East India – for ‘The Himalayan Knot’, to create designer wear.

The motorcycle giant’s initiative is an effort to create meaningful fashion focused on textiles from the Himalayan Belt. In each edition, they will collaborate with prominent fashion designers who are expected to be significantly involved in the entire value chain of creating a heritage textile piece for six to eight months. For the second edition, focused on eri silk capsule lines from Assam and Meghalaya and Bodo fabrics, it was silkworm breeders, spinners, dyers, weavers and tailors.

Spinning eri silk

At ANT, I’m on a special mission – to see the tiny silkworms (called It was in Assamese) in person. All eri silk is wrongly credited as ahimsa (non-violent), but tribesmen and textile experts in the Northeast are quick to explain that it comes down to ethical practice. An honorable process takes about 50 days, one of the longest harvest cycles of any silk, making eri perhaps the most expensive. In the Northeast, mindful practice can also mean eating from nose to tail—in this case, using silkworms as a source of edible protein in Garo cuisine once the cocoon is finished spinning. But since rearing eri silkworms is an important source of employment, many uncontrolled breeders raise the worms for the sole purpose of sale, encouraging increased mating cycles, which is contrary to the rules of non-violence.

Along for the ride

Mandeep “Mandy” Merwah watches a patch of cotton being handwoven by a Bodo weaver under the guidance of Smitha Murthy, a design mentor at ANT. “The tiny motifs of the bike really speak to the rider in me,” says the 52-year-old independent behavior change coach. Merwah is one of the eight research riders with us journalists on an exciting and exploratory trip organized by Royal Enfield.

Weavers at work

The focus for them is to collect metadata for UNESCO as part of the company’s “Social Mission” – discovery (creating new routes for travelers), documenting (via videos, interviews, written text) and promoting the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of India.

“For riders, long bike rides are usually about the road, freedom and (connecting with) friends. But to spend so much time with the tribes and in a way be a record of their oral history is incredibly special,” says Mandy. While I focus on Bodo weaving techniques, riding researchers will interact with the Garo tribe of Meghalaya, its cooks who preserve their authentic cuisines, participate in chubitchi-brewing (Meghalaya’s famous rice beer) and connect with the guardians of the sacred Wangala dance.

Bodo Weavers x Enfield

Sushant Abrol of Delhi-based menswear label Countrymade by Sushant Abrol is one of the three designers participating in the second edition. An avid rider himself, he says, “Owning an Enfield bike two years into my design career and now this collection is a testament to the power of manifestation.” His collection consists of six jackets and shirts, aptly titled ‘Country Road’. Made with cotton threads in a Bodo weave, it includes a black shirt inspired by tire tracks (INR 3,400) and a blue half-sleeve number featuring Enfield’s famous ‘350’ bike (INR 2,950).

Models from the Country Road collection

Meanwhile, senior designer Sonam Dubal, known for her fantastic jackets and decades of work with eri silk designed the ‘Homecoming’ capsule collection and Eka’s Rina Singh created ‘Go North’ with Ladakhi pashmina for her edit.

Sonam Dubal with ANT weavers

Eka’s Korzok Shawl

Over two editions and 17 organized races, 105 rider-researchers (motorcycling enthusiasts enlisted by Enfield to engage with local communities and participate in documenting declining crops) helped motorcycle manufacturers document 66 regional practices from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya. , Mizoram, Nagaland, North Bengal, Sikkim and Tripura. Cycling researchers from backgrounds such as finance, art and design are chosen after a strict selection process involving video interviews and focus group discussions to check interest, sensitivity and zeal for the volunteer experience.

The silkworm cycle

A short walk from the ANT campus, we are in the center of a village house. Under a cloth cover, thousands of eri silkworms eat the castor plants. The worms feed for 21 days, and when they reach maturity, they spin their cocoons. The sheath is spun with both sides open, making it easy for the worm to escape, and the silk can be classified as ahimsa or vegan silk – a favorite fabric choice for vegans, monks and Buddhist communities.

It was silk worms

“I am a Sikkimese Buddhist. Being one with nature is in our blood,” says Dubal, who was born in Assam and credits his upbringing in an inherently conscious environment for his design ethos. Favoring Asian cuts and a zero-waste ideology, he has been showcasing his eri silk explorations both in India and abroad for over 25 years. His ‘Jajabor’ jacket (INR 8,000), from the ‘Homecoming’ collection, features an illustrated map of Assam lined with rhinoceros. The ‘Black and White Crossing’ shirt (INR 4,000) incorporates the ANT campus coordinates as woven design elements on the sleeve.

“It’s not just about creating collections. The Himalayan Knot is a collaborative effort to bring together Himalayan communities, conservationists, artisans and designers to conserve pastoral land and protect living heritage for future generations,” says Bidisha Dey, Executive Director, Eicher Group Foundation. The ultimate vision of the project is to collaborate with 100 communities. The group aims to highlight groups from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Himalayan Knot collections are available exclusively at store.royalenfield.com.

The writer is a fashion stylist from Mumbai.