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How A Village Keeps India's Handmade Shuttlecock Industry Alive | Still Standing - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
[2]
perfect feathers are key to a good
[4]
badminton shuttlecock
[7]
sixteen of them to be exact
[10]
craftspeople in india's jodhubaria
[12]
village have been making these birdies
[13]
by hand for generations
[16]
the area used to be filled with over 500
[19]
small factories like dodo shuttles
[23]
but foreign competition and growing
[24]
demand for synthetic shuttlecocks have
[26]
forced many to close and scores of
[29]
workers have left to find higher paying
[31]
jobs
[33]
we visited west bengal to see how
[35]
india's shuttlecock capital is still
[37]
standing
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[Music]
[43]
all of dodo's shuttlecocks are made with
[45]
white duck feathers
[47]
workers like israel mullick wash them in
[50]
small bunches in soapy water
[62]
usually he works in the final stages of
[64]
production but today he's on washing
[66]
duty
[68]
he and his co-workers scrub by the
[69]
handful for several seconds
[73]
it can take workers up to an hour to get
[75]
through a batch this size
[78]
local duck meat farmers sell these
[80]
feathers in bulk to the factory
[83]
next they rinse the bunches in water and
[85]
set them aside to drip off
[86]
[Music]
[90]
israel fills his buckets with fresh
[92]
water for a second rinse
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[Music]
[96]
he keeps one clean
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and dilutes a small amount of natural
[99]
indigo dye in the other
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one
[107]
this gives the feathers a very subtle
[109]
tint that keeps them from yellowing
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working swiftly in tandem they rinse
[117]
die
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[Music]
[123]
and wring out handfuls at a time
[130]
then they spread them out to dry in the
[132]
sun for three to four hours
[140]
the clean and dry feathers go inside to
[142]
be sorted and trimmed
[144]
this is co-owner subo nyogi's favorite
[146]
part of the whole process
[152]
durability
[165]
a worker inspects each feather looking
[167]
for strength and uniformity
[172]
if one isn't up to standard it gets
[174]
discarded
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then he trims them to exactly three
[180]
inches long
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his shears are bolted together to ensure
[184]
there's no variation in length
[188]
next a team of workers start to shape
[190]
them
[192]
they take just a few seconds to cut out
[194]
a curved edge on one side and a straight
[196]
edge on the other
[199]
the cutters are so practiced that they
[201]
don't even require a guide to churn
[203]
through hundreds of identically trimmed
[205]
feathers a day
[207]
i'm joking
[213]
[Music]
[220]
indian feathers they do import these
[222]
cork bases from china
[225]
a worker drills 16 holes into each base
[228]
with the only machine used at the
[230]
factory
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but it isn't fully automated someone
[235]
still has to guide it into place with a
[236]
steady hand and a good eye precision
[240]
like this is also key when it comes to
[242]
gluing the feathers into the base
[244]
with just a quick dab of glue a worker
[247]
aligns each feather so it overlaps with
[249]
the next
[250]
occasionally checking that they're all
[252]
even
[255]
and then another binds them together
[257]
with thread
[260]
this forms what's called the skirt of a
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shuttle
[266]
says
[273]
he knocks around each feather shaft
[275]
making two separate rings of thread
[279]
but for an added bit of security a
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worker also applies a thin coat of epoxy
[283]
to the base and threads with a paint
[285]
brush
[287]
then it's time for the finishing touches
[289]
like a label that indicates the speed of
[291]
the shuttle
[293]
and of course the dodo brand
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one important aspect of israel's job is
[300]
to weigh each one before packaging
[314]
once they're at 70 grams he stacks 10 of
[316]
them in a tube and prepares them for
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sale across india
[320]
depending on the quality dodo sells each
[323]
tube for 200 to 300 rupees or about
[325]
three to four dollars
[328]
production here is often done in stages
[330]
but from start to finish a single
[332]
shuttle takes just 30 minutes to
[334]
make
[351]
this handmade approach means small
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places like this can't make as much
[354]
product or as much profit as major
[357]
global brands that use machines
[360]
this has forced many of the workers in
[362]
chatterberry out of the village's
[364]
traditional industry
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[Music]
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the rise in synthetic shuttlecocks is
[384]
another threat
[385]
plastic and nylon alternatives have
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become more popular as they're often
[389]
cheaper and last longer
[403]
but that's changing in january 2020 the
[406]
badminton world federation announced it
[408]
would allow approved synthetic
[410]
shuttlecocks at all levels of
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competition starting in 2021
[415]
but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed
[417]
widespread development and approval of
[419]
them
[420]
and opinions among professional players
[422]
are still mixed on how it could impact
[424]
the sport
[426]
but for the workers who rely on
[428]
feathered shuttlecocks there's no
[429]
substitute for the real thing
[436]
is
[440]
[Music]
[454]
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