Our mission st JOYN is to connect and empower marginalized communities with new markets.
JOYN is committed to hand making bags, crafted by local artisans in the foothills of the Himalayas. We choose people over machinery to breathe life into each piece. We are passionate about creating a circular ecosystem where all considerations of the supply chain are taken into account.
That means, we actively work to purchase remnant leathers and sustainable materials while also empowering people in local communities with fair work. Transparency is at the forefront of how we do business.
We know we’re not perfect but we are open and always looking for ways to improve our products and services from design to manufacture, all the way to the final product that lands from our hands to yours. We believe that creating empowered communities is the foundation of great business.
JOYN is committed to hand making bags, crafted by local artisans in the foothills of the Himalayas. We choose people over machinery to breathe life into each piece. We are passionate about creating a circular ecosystem where all considerations of the supply chain are taken into account.
That means, we actively work to purchase remnant leathers and sustainable materials while also empowering people in local communities with fair work. Transparency is at the forefront of how we do business.
We know we’re not perfect but we are open and always looking for ways to improve our products and services from design to manufacture, all the way to the final product that lands from our hands to yours. We believe that creating empowered communities is the foundation of great business.
About Our Founder
Mel grew up and was educated in the U.S. She spent a decade working for two global marketing agencies and managing sales for a textile company employing artisans in Tibet. Motivated by a passion to connect artisans with markets, Mel and her family moved to northern India in 2010; there, she founded JOYN in 2013.
She had the vision of putting work back into the hands of hundreds of artisans by believing that all should have the right to a job. JOYN creates holistic employment for marginalised people who wouldn’t otherwise have work.
Where It Started -Rajpur
JOYN started here, in a small, sleepy town at the base of the Himalayas, with a mix of mountain people from India, Nepal, Tibet and beyond. People from many different backgrounds, religions, languages and cultures come together daily to create art, build community and live out their dreams. We started our color mixing and block printing operations here and continue to expand into vegan leather and stitching, with Tsering Yankee heading our Rajpur Division. Rajpur currently serves as our Headquarters and handles all of our in-country design and product development, QC, legal work and logistics.
JOYN has now expanded to include 5 cities in India, as well as Thailand.
