Handloom Nation — ranaplaza RSS



The Skin Knows: Handloom Versus Milled Cloth.

When people try on natural handwoven clothing for the first time, they report an experience that can only be described as their skin ‘thanking’ them. This is not imagined. It’s not just the natural fiber that feels good, it’s what’s missing— chemicals. Manufacturers of milled cloth can use up to 2000 different chemicals in fabric making. According to a report from the textile magazine, EcoTextiles, it takes from 10% to 100% of the weight of the fabric in chemicals to actually produce the fabric! These chemicals are used to give the fabric the unnatural characteristics we’ve come to expect in our clothes like, non-iron or wrinkle-free, flame-retardant, shrinkage-free, water-repellant, stain-repellant, anti-cling, perspiration-proof, and more. These qualities are obtained by saturating...

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Rana Plaza: How did financing play a part?

The third anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster (where 5 garment factories fell, killing 1,135 people) is just around the corner.   It’s easy to disconnect the fashion brands we love from that problem in another land.   The news focuses on the factory conditions and blames the factory owner. They don’t focus on the major clothing brands that use those factories to produce their luxury clothing lines. They have a direct influence over the worker’s wages and working conditions.   These brands influence how the factories run, based on how they pay for the goods they order. When they order a batch of natural cotton T-shirts, for instance, they give no cash in advance. It is left to the...

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Khadi Threatened As A Brand

Since India opened its economy in the 90s, the government seems to be repeatedly caught by surprised by the need to protect the collective intellectual property of Indian culture.   Years ago, I did a story about how a multi-national chemical company swooped in and patented the active ingredients of the neem tree. The neem tree is omni-present in every village in India and knowledge of it’s uses have been passed down through the ages. Considered sacred, every part of this amazing tree has a use. Most commonly, the twigs are used as a poor man’s tooth brush. My parents grew up using a neem twig to clean their teeth and gums every morning and you can still see small...

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