Discovering Textiles from across the world

You thought it was a nostalgic reminder of the movie of yore – Sahib Bibi aur Gulam. No, that is the name of the catalogue launched together with the exhibition of the same name showcasing the rich collection of Baluchari with TAPI. TAPI stands for the Textile Arts of the People of India, has been set up by Praful and Shilpa Shah of Garden Mills to showcase their private collection of textiles amongst other things. Their collection of textiles is stupendous and several exhibitions have been held at the National Museum, Delhi. Notably has been the first on traded textiles from India, the Pichwais and later one on Parsi Gara embroidery. Each exhibition is accompanied by a detailed catalogue written by eminent textile experts and detailing each of the exhibits. It is the detailing of the exhibits as a catalogue which opens to textile enthusiasts, revivalists and those in the trade, the sheer design potential of them. This book cum catalogue has been written by Eva Maria Rakob, Shilpa Shah...

We celebrate the National Handloom Day with little write ups about designers / revivalists/ dedicated individuals who are working to bring back to life forgotten weaves and textile techniques. All of them are known to me and are friends where there is a shared camaraderie and a mutual love for textiles… I cover 3 of them in this post. The Celebrations start from 1 st of August and go to the 10 th of August. Keeping this in mind, I cover a series of such revivalists over the next couple of posts.   (For the uninitiated – 7 th August 1905 was the day when the Swadeshi Movement was launched. It was launched in Calcutta Town Hall. It was aimed to promote domestic and indigenous goods and products. Primarily amongst them the handloom which was a way to boycott imported goods especially apparel. To commemorate this and give a boost to the domestic production especially those woven by hand, the National Handloom Day was launched. The first one was held on 7 th August 2015 and inau...

  Fair Trade for the Textile Sector A business model finding much preference world over is Fair Trade. Together with organic, eco-friendly, sustainable, Reach certification, GOTS…..are important in the world of trade. Fair Trade which in its simplest sense means the trade is fair to the producer groups.  One of the first areas where Fair Trade has been implemented was in the procurement of food products especially coffee, cocoa. Fairtrade marks a host of products many covering food, beauty essentials but for the textile industry, Fair Trade cottons is what is relevant. Fair Trade cotton products covers the entire spectrum of home furnishings, men’s wear, women’s wear, chidren’s clothes, toys…..With cotton being emphasized the world over, for the textile sector, using Fair Trade cotton in production of garments or being certified as Fair Trade producer of it is beneficial to garner greater business.   The concept of Fair Trade The earlier era where NGOs and Co-operativ...

    The International Standard - GOTS The first global standard for certification of organic textiles which is well known and equally popular is GOTS – the acronym for Global Organic Textile Standards. The focus of the standard is to have a global recognized requirement to ensure organic status of textiles. It covers the process from harvesting of raw materials to the labeling to reach the end consumer. The harvesting has to be done using environmentally and socially responsible means as also the manufacturing. Such a certification ensures that textile processors and manufacturers will be able to export their organic fabrics, apparel, garments and textiles under one certification across the globe. The certification will be accepted in all the major markets. And it will stand for ethical manufacturing and the end product is organically certified.  The standard is applicable to textiles made from using at least 70% certified organic natural fibres. It covers processing, m...

Given this thrust on organic cotton, it is but natural that there should be put in place a system or a set of guidelines for its certification. It is also a way to ensure that the tag organic cotton is used consciously and not frivolously to make a fast buck. Apart from the international norms, APEDA (Agriculture produce export development agency) has recently come out with Indian Standards for Organic Textiles (ISOT) in association with NPOP (National Programme for Organic Production) under Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. These standards were launched in July 2012. The reason for coming out with such a guideline is that with the growing demand for organic textiles, there needs to be a consolidated body to support organic claims of the textile industry. ISOT has been developed under the NPOP with a particular focus on Indian manufacturers of organic textiles. Also since there are standards for organic food across the world and there needs to be an imperativ...

One of the oldest and the most popular of natural fibers used in the textile industry is cotton. It is one of “the” important of commodities or products traded in the world.  It is the bane of Indian exports, India and cotton simply go hand in hand. Try this for statistic,  India is expected to produce 25.5 million bales of cotton in the year 2012-13 as per USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) October crop Production Report.  Major portion of the cotton is produced according to modern farming practices using chemical fertilizers and pesticides or as it is popularly termed “the conventional way”. The high incidence of the use of chemicals is seen as one of the biggest bane in its farming.  It is with this view that there is an increasing thrust on organic cotton. The quantities of organic cotton are still fledgling, it is said to be growing at an impressive 20% per annum. Understandably so, given India’s niche with cotton, India is amongst the top major prod...