Hamam’s (soap brand) purpose is helping women #GoSafeOutside by sparking societal change and empowering them with means to counter external aggressors.

At Kumbh Mela 2019, (the world’s largest human religious congregation), women were left vulnerable to unsolicited attention in their wet clinging saris post the holy dip.

Hamam provided them with a simple yet effective solution - Waterproof sarees. An ideal clothing solution for women devotees taking the holy dip.

Intent was to spark conversations around preserving women’s modesty and empowering them at the Kumbh. Hamam put action to its intent by refusing to attach any business angle to this initiative.

The objective was clear – Help women devotees combat unsolicited attention + drive awareness about their right to be viewed dispassionately at such mass gatherings.

While the male gaze slowly evolves and learns to not objectify women, our intent was to empower these women and help them freely exercise their religion.

Hamam wanted to build equity beyond its home turf, Tamil Nadu (state in South India) where the brand is almost a tradition.

The 2019 Kumbh Mela at Allahabad (North India) was a huge opportunity. For 3 months every 12 years, Kumbh becomes the largest congregation in India where crores of women and men come to take a holy dip and wash away their sins.

However, a bigger sin was being committed. On ground experiences and soft reports in media spoke about women devotees being crassly objectified. Even a web search on ‘Women at Kumbh’ shows women objectified in wet, transparent saris unlike images of men in prayer. Women devotees would speak of unsolicited pictures, ogling and more.

Extending its #GoSafeOutside initiative to the Kumbh 2019, Hamam started by sponsoring women’s changing rooms at the Kumbh, but this wasn’t enough as the cotton / nylon saris worn by these women became wet, clingy and transparent during the Holy dip.

The distance from the river bed to the changing rooms, left them vulnerable to unsolicited attention and pictures.

Giving away ponchos/raincoats would have been the easiest solution. But the Kumbh Snan (Holy Dip), is a religious ritual and saris are integral to tradition and culture for Indian women.

Why should a woman compromise her beliefs to counter perverts? This rhetoric was the germ of the idea - India’s (and probably, the world’s) first ever ‘Waterproof Saree’.

A charming yellow sari with an invisible layer of waterproofing that made the fabric aquaphobic i.e. water rolls right off the material leaving it dry even after several dips.

Extending its #GoSafeOutside initiative to the Kumbh 2019, Hamam started by sponsoring women’s changing rooms at the Kumbh, but this wasn’t enough as the cotton / nylon saris worn by these women would become wet, clingy and transparent during the Holy dip. The distance from the river bed to the changing rooms, left them vulnerable to unsolicited attention and pictures.

Giving away ponchos/raincoats would have been the easiest solution. But the Kumbh Snan (Holy Dip), is a religious ritual and saris are integral to tradition and culture for Indian women.

Why should a woman compromise her beliefs to counter perverts? This rhetoric was the germ of the idea - India’s (and probably, the world’s) first ever ‘Waterproof Saree’.

A charming yellow sari with an invisible layer of waterproofing that made the fabric aqua phobic i.e. water rolls right off the material leaving it dry even after several dips.

Hamam started by sponsoring changing rooms in mid-Jan 2019. Waterproof saris were conceived later with the realisation for additional protection.

The term ‘Waterproof Saris’ sounds like an awkward plastic parody. After some hilarious fails, we landed a unique waterproofing solution that was double-coated on polyester blend fabric; turning a regular sari aqua-phobic for several dips and washes. A charming yellow, it looks like any Indian sari armed but with an added layer of protection. The very source of vulnerability was transformed into a shield.

It was impossible to match the numbers at Kumbh but given budget and time realities we were able to distribute 5000 sarees. To maximise impact, we distributed the saris on 4 key dates at the festival where the crowd is 5 times a regular day. Larger the gathering, more the risk – also the maximum chances for our on-ground teams to educate people through the sari.

Through #GoSafeOutside, Hamam wants to raise awareness, kick-start conversations and facilitate solutions.

The Waterproof Sarees don’t just help preserve the modesty of female pilgrims, they also reprimand society to be more respectful and discrete about how they view women. Just as men take the Holy Dip without worry, society needs to be just as dispassionate and discrete about how they view women.

Our initiatives inspired the Kumbh authorities to make some serious systematic changes. For the first time, taking pictures of people bathing along the banks became a punishable offence that was strictly enforced.

5000 saris are a miniscule reach in the millions that thronged Kumbh, but every woman protected, and every man impacted counts for a safer future generation. The ripple effect was felt in the media coverage in national and regional newspapers and prominent news portals helping us reach over 81.9mn people through this initiative.