THE COMPANY

Sabahar began in 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the home of its Founder, Kathy Marshall and her family. The humble workshop employed one weaver, a couple women doing natural dyeing and a dream to introduce silk production and processing into Ethiopia. Through the years, our growth has been steady. Almost 20 years later, we are proud that we directly employ 98 people at our workshop, work with 75 weavers in their homes, cooperate with three weaving workshops and provide part-time employment for hundreds of spinners and silk producers. 

 

Sabahar produces towels, table linens, accessories, bath mats, cushions, blankets, throws, scarves and shawls.  In 2022, we exported more than 55,000 items, and sold about 25,000 products locally. Our average monthly production is about 8,000 pieces. Sabahar's textiles can now be found throughout the world as we export to more than 25 companies in almost twenty different countries.

Our passion is not to just ensure hand weaving and spinning livelihoods are respected and preserved, but more importantly, to strengthen and diversify traditional skills so they will still be relevant for years to come. This means practical innovation and investment in technologies and capacity building for artisans, as well as ensuring our products are globally available, competitive and desired. The highest quality possible in terms of materials and workmanship is our promise to our customers. 

In addition, we are committed to sustainable, transparent and responsible production practices. In our effort to be a model of eco-friendly manufacturing, we use such innovations such as bio-gas to produce fuel for our dyeing department, solar heating of water,  repurposing of textile wastes, and treatment and recycling of water discharge from the dyeing process.