Fabindia, a chain of branded retail stores, is a familiar name for urban Indians. It sells handlooms, ready-made garments, handicraft items and organic food through its retail chain. Fabindia started as an exporter of home furnishings, and gradually entered into retailing in the domestic market. Initially, it created employment for the people of rural India. Subsequently, the rural community was made part of the organization, and Fabindia adopted the community-owned corporation business model to create a win-win situation for both rural producers and urban consumers.

Fabindia is a label that spells `natural', `vibrant' and `handmade'. Fabindia stores are warm and colorful, and showcase the most beautiful and fabulous fabrics and handicraft products from all over India. Fabindia has joined hands with village-based artisans across India, who are working on handloom, textile and specialty products. The company's commitment to helping rural artisans has contributed towards preserving the traditional crafts of India and in creating employment in rural areas. To become commercially successful is not the sole objective of Fabindia.

Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd., has its registered head office in New Delhi. It works with craftsmen and women who make the products in their homes or in their places of work. The organization works closely with the artisans by providing various inputs including design, quality control, access to raw materials and production coordination. It does not have a company-owned production unit. Fabindia has a consistent mark-up price on all its products to recognize and appreciate the crafts and people's creative investment in the products. Fabindia retails its products through exclusive company-owned stores across India.

Fabindia's history began with the coming of John Bissell to India in 1958, before any American companies began sourcing handloom products from India. John Bissell was earlier working as a buyer for Macy's New York. He left this position and started to work as a consultant for the Ford Foundation, where he was given a two-year grant to guide Indian villagers in making goods for export. He firmly believed in the emerging Indian textile industry and was determined to showcase Indian handloom textiles in a way so as to provide employment to traditional artisans. What Bissell discovered was that the village-based industries of India had a profusion of skills, completely hidden from the rest of the world.

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