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When you think about it, ‘shop local ‘and ‘support small businesses’ are movements rooted in sustainability and ethics. Smaller designers were the first in the fashion industry to question the environmental impact from our clothes and to seek out ethical trading standards. Decades later larger brands like H&M and Gucci finally caught on. Deeper into the production side of fashion, it’s family-run sustainable textiles companies like Anuprerna that have always been dedicated to organic fabrics and the artisans at their looms.
We started with koti- a handspun yarn. It’s sustainable in the energy aspect. Organic certified is difficult to get. But, we promise that it’s organic in a homespun process.
Speaking with 3rd-generation owner, Amit, a lot of Anuprerna’s dedication is rooted in tradition and pride in the product more than profit from cheap & fast production. To Amit, these aren’t the ethics that his company wants to be known for. Instead, he looks to the past at the connections his father made 35-yeas ago when he started his business by personally visiting local artisans and organic farmers to create the sustainable textiles brand. And, if you think about it, these ethical practices sound a lot like what the future of fashion is doing now. Slow. Personal. And, creating a story about the people who make our textiles and clothing.
Artisan Textiles Are Rooted In Activism
Anuprerna stands at the intersection of a rich cultural history and a modern movement toward ethical and sustainable production. “Gandhi started the evolution of koti to boycott British made clothes and wanted to sell cheaper clothes.” Amit spoke about Gandhi’s defiance against the British Empire. Dating as far back as the Indus Valley Civilization, Indian textiles have remained an important part of Indian culture and eventually took on new meaning as a revolutionary symbol under Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during the long-lived British occupation of India.
As many know, one of Gandhi’s most famous protests was his boycott of British clothing. Instead of purchasing the expensive clothes, he spun his own yarn and wove his own clothing in the same way that his ancestors had done for centuries and encouraged others to do the same. Gandhi’s boycott not only lessened the colonial strength of Britain, but revitalized an important cultural tradition. “We started making our own fabrics and everyone started making their own looms,” Amit further revealed about Gandhi’s effect on sustainable textiles and clothing.
Preserving The Past
In recent years, the handloom sector has lost some momentum, but as of 2019 there are still over 4 million people employed within it. Today, companies like Anuprerna strive to maintain the cultural heritage of handspinning and handweaving while modernizing the practice thoughtfully. One of the key features of Anuprerna’s business model is what they call artisan clusters. As Amit explained, “Each artisan cluster is mostly a village where each works from their home. We try to provide 30 days of work and then the next 30 days. That’s what they need. That’s what guaranteed. It’s not very luxurious, it’s about working from home comfortably.”
The methods of production that the artisans use are strictly traditional. Handlooms and spinning wheels remain as valuable to the artisans as ever despite the existence of newer technology. These tools have been around in some form or another for centuries and are integral to the cultural heritage of Indian textile production. This heritage is exactly what Anuprerna hopes to preserve and highlight, with the eventual goal of being able to raise the value and price of their crafts so that they can also increase wages of the 300+ weavers in rural Bengal whom they partner with.
Preserving The Future of Sustainable Textiles
Anuprerna also strives to operate sustainably and ethically. Fundamentally, some aspects of handweaving and handspinning are and have always been sustainable. In contrast to industrial textile production methods that run on coal or electricity, traditional spinning wheels require no external energy source, making them fully energy efficient. The handspun yarn that is a staple for Indian artisans can be sourced ethically and sustainably, though as Amit told us, “Organic certified is difficult to get. But, we promise that it’s organic in a homespun process.” However, where certified organic materials may not be possible, Anuprerna sticks to natural fibres that are “completely handspun and handwoven, ” even in the packaging of the garments they make. Again, the natural fibers that Anuprerna uses are the kinds of natural fibers that have been used in Indian textile production for years. This sustainable aspect of textile production is evergreen.
Currently, Anuprerna is working on various additional steps in their sustainable and ethical business practice journey. As Amit told us, “We are exploring natural dyes. We are trying to avoid chemical free dyes. We have a few products that are natural dyes. But, natural dyes are not that stable as chemical dyes. We have many raw, off-white and natural whtie fabrics.” Fortunately, there are many flowers, vegetables, and roots that can be used as natural dyes, especially when working with materials like cotton, so there is plenty of room for experimentation. Anuprerna’s website additionally lists other sustainability and ethical/fair trade goals like reducing their water waste and creating and creating a co-working space and a structured training system to enrich the lives of the artisans they partner with. Anuprerna is also working with Nest, a non-profit artisan guild, to incorporate their set of standards and practices.
Anuprerna is an interesting case study for those of us interested in sustainable and ethical businesses. While sustainability has garnered much attention in the past decade, certain cultural traditions have always embraced sustainable principles. For Anuprerna and many Indian artisans, handweaving is sustainable not because of the current movement but because it always has been sustainable. And despite the fact that it is difficult to find organic-certified yarn, handweavers still use natural materials. The textiles and garments they produce may not carry a special label, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t made with care for the environment or the hands that made them.
While Anuprerna has already incorporated many ethical and sustainable practices, they are transparent about the practices they’re still working on incorporating. While doing so, they have been able to share their sustainable textiles and garments that were once a point of imperial interest and are now a symbol of empowerment, heritage, and pride.