HANDLOOM FABRICS ORIGIN: NEPAL
MILL MADE FABRICS ORIGIN: INDIA
Despite the controversy surrounding its production, Bamboo-rayon is still a much more sustainable fiber than conventional cotton. Where cotton requires a certain climate and a lot of hard labor to raise, bamboo is resilient enough to grow in many more geographical locations and requires much less maintenance to cultivate. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Often mistaken for a tree, it is actually a giant grass that self-propagates underground and grows very quickly. Some varieties can grow up to four feet in a single day! Bamboo can also completely restore itself in five years after each time it is harvested. Furthermore, it is extremely hardy and pest resistant which alleviates the need for fertilizers and pesticides. It also never needs replanting because the shoots are cut off at the base when it is harvested. This leaves the root system intact and the plant can just regenerate itself from there. All bamboo products are also 100% biodegradable in the right conditions!
Barkha sources most of her bamboo textile products from trusted fair labor artisanal groups in the Himalayan villages of Nepal. She has visited them to make sure that they treat their workers fairly. Buying handspun and handloom cloth makes sure that artisans in developing countries like Nepal are making a decent living off of their craft.
All of Barkha’s fabrics are dyed using low-impact natural or synthetic dyes depending on client needs. “Low-impact” dyes are dyes that have no need of salts or heavy metals.
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