About HFMN

A national tapestry,
woven from the cluster up.

Handloom Fabrics Makers of Nepal is an ESG-committed national organization stitching farmers, weavers, researchers and markets into one accountable textile ecosystem — from mulberry hillside to export desk.

farmersweaversspinnersdyersresearcherscooperativesdesignersmarkets

Portrait 01

The people behind the cloth.

The Founding Stitch

A federation, stitched year by year.

Use the arrows, drag, or your ← → keys to travel through the stitches.

2015

First cluster charters

Weaver cooperatives in Bhaktapur and Palpa sign HFMN's founding charter.

2017

National federation

HFMN formally registered as a national federation across seven provinces.

2019

ESG baseline

ESG framework adopted; first natural dye and mulberry silk baselines completed.

2021

UTCN retail arm

Launched to shorten the route from loom to buyer.

2023

Training & Academy

Programme reaches 2,400 weavers and 180 cooperatives across Nepal.

2026

Nepal-origin mandate

Certification and national mandate for handloom, silk, wool, fibres, dyes.

Vision

To make Nepal a global centre for sustainable textiles.

A globally recognized origin for handloom, silk, natural fibre, wool and naturally coloured products — powered by ESG-based rural industrialisation.

Mission

To organise the whole chain into one accountable federation.

Farmers, weavers, artisans, cooperatives, women, youth, experts, designers, local governments and market actors — organised into sustainable value chains that create income, preserve heritage and build Nepal-origin brands.

Core Values

Ten threads. One weave.

Our values aren't a bullet list — they're the warp and weft that every cluster, cooperative and project is measured against.

1Sustainability

2Heritage

3Inclusiveness

4Ethics

5Quality

6Transparency

7Cooperation

8Research

9Rural prosperity

10Nepal-origin

Who we organise

The six threads of the federation.

Every HFMN programme has a farmer, a weaver, a designer or a researcher with skin in the game — not a beneficiary, a member.

Member type · 01
Farmers
Mulberry, allo, hemp, cotton and indigo growers anchoring the raw-material base.

Member type · 02
Weavers
Handloom and pit-loom artisans holding the technical memory of the craft.

Member type · 03
Spinners & Dyers
Yarn count discipline and natural-colour laboratories.

Member type · 04
Designers
Contemporary product development, sampling and collection direction.

Member type · 05
Researchers
Fibre science, standards, provenance and material heritage.

Member type · 06
Cooperatives
Governance, aggregation and the legal spine of every cluster.

National mandate

One country. One woven mandate.

HFMN carries a national mandate across all seven provinces — coordinating handloom, silk, wool, natural fibre and natural colorant sectors under one ESG-based framework.

Silk clusters
Handloom regions
Wool production
Natural fibre sites
Community clusters
Training centres

7 provinces · 34 clusters
180+ member cooperatives
2,400+ trained weavers & artisans
5 sector standards under HFMN framework

Organisation structure

Knots, not a hierarchy.

HFMN is governed as a network of interconnected knots — each with its own authority, each tied into the same national weave.

General Assembly

Members · elects the board

General Assembly

Sita Rai

Cluster delegate · Terhathum

Bikash Gurung

Cluster delegate · Palpa

Kamala Tamang

Cluster delegate · Bhaktapur

Dorje Sherpa

Cluster delegate · Mustang

Executive Board

Sets policy & mandate

Executive Board

Rajendra Shrestha

Chairperson

Anita Adhikari

Vice Chair

Prakash Thapa

General Secretary

Manju Karki

Treasurer

Advisory Council

Researchers & sector experts

Advisory Council

Dr. Sunila Basnet

Fibre science

Dr. Ramesh Poudel

Sericulture

Prof. Neha Joshi

Design & heritage

Bibek Rana

Natural dyes

Cluster Committees

Local coordination

Cluster Committees

Bhaktapur Handloom

34 members

Palpa Dhaka

28 members

Terhathum Cluster

22 members

Chitwan Cluster

19 members

Sector Chapters

Silk · Wool · Fibre · Dye

Sector Chapters

Silk Chapter

Chair · Nabin K.C.

Wool Chapter

Chair · Pema Lama

Fibre Chapter

Chair · Indira Limbu

Dye Chapter

Chair · Reeta Maharjan

Cooperative Federations

Producer aggregation

Cooperative Federations

Eastern Federation

42 co-ops

Central Federation

51 co-ops

Western Federation

38 co-ops

Karnali Federation

22 co-ops

HFMN Secretariat

Programmes & operations

HFMN Secretariat

Sabina Maharjan

Executive Director

Umesh Bhattarai

Programmes Lead

Sunita Rai

Standards & ESG

Krishna Poudel

Market & UTCN

In Practice

What HFMN actually does.

Everything HFMN does — from a mulberry seedling to a finished bolt of cloth — is stewarded by a real cooperative, a real weaver and a real ledger. This is a snapshot.

On the hillside

Producer mobilization

We walk cooperatives through registration, ESG onboarding and cluster charters — turning scattered producers into a single, accountable federation.

In the workshop

Standards & training

Loom setup, count discipline, yarn testing and finishing — the small, boring things that decide whether a fabric ships or gets rejected.

At the market

Route to buyers

We connect cluster output to UTCN retail, national trade shows and export desks so the price the weaver sees reflects the price the buyer pays.

“HFMN did not hand us a subsidy. They handed us a standard, a market and someone to call when the loom broke.

— Cooperative chair, Bhaktapur cluster

A national tapestry,woven from the cluster up.