Today, everyone recognizes the value of sustainability and appreciates the fact that eco-friendly clothing suits the skin best. The top brands that have decided to go organic offer a wide range of apparel that is trendy and chic at the same time ethnic and elegant. Each brand has its own story—a reason to go organic and stand out from the rest. To make fashion ethical, some go to the deserts of Rajasthan, while some reach the green land of Kabini to suit everyone's palate.
Indigreen, a venture started by fashion and lifestyle journalist Nidhi Singh and industrialist Gaurav G, displays 100 percent eco-friendly fabrics made from organic cotton, bamboo fabric, and handwoven khadi using non-toxic colors. Not only are they responsible towards the environment, the company follows ethical values and pays fair wages to the workers and painters. What sets them apart from the rest in the sustainable fashion market is their effort to drive people towards going green.
No Nasties is a fashion brand that believes strongly in fair trade—no pesticides, no genetically modified seeds, no toxic agents, no child labor or exploitation. This brand has a wide range of T-shirts that are fashionable as well as organic. They use 100 percent organic cotton certified by Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and 100 percent fair-trade cotton certified by Fair Trade India. No Nasties T-shirts are a way of showing their concern for the environment and inspiring others to spread the green message.
Aura, a venture started by Arun and Sonal Baid, reflects their interest in the environment—an attempt to prevent global warming and pollution coming from textile and dyeing processes. They like to see a world where people would proactively choose herbal-dyed fabrics and clothing without compromising on design, quality, or style.
The innovative process of producing herbal textiles and dyes is GOTS certified, and they produce a variety of fabrics with a vibrant range of colors and prints. This allows them to be at par with other brands in the industry. To add one more credit to their eco-friendly methods, they recycle both solid and liquid waste. These are used as manure and to irrigate farms.
Forty Red Bangles is Ramona Saboo's initiative born of a dream to create beautiful designs. It comes from traditional organic sources. The name of the brand is inspired by the concept of marriage. True to its name, the label represents an amalgamation of sustainability and cultural or ethnic dressmaking. The brand offers a wide range of apparel for men, women, and children.
The collection includes organic clothing and accessories, handmade toys and organic kid's wear, handcrafted jewelry, natural candles, and upcycled homeware. Forty Red Bangles incorporates ecological elements in its design and construction of each handcrafted piece. The brand is associated with community partners like Gramshree, an organization that works with women artisans from Gujarat, an NGO named Sambhali Trust that works for women's empowerment in Jodhpur, and Aura Herbal Textile Ltd.
Samtana, founded by two T-shirt lovers, Bharath and Ben, offers a wide range of 100 per cent organic T-shirts. The founders wanted to give not only a piece of art to wear but also support farmers in eco-friendly ventures and ultimately create a sustainable environment. Samtana uses only certified organic cotton grown from natural seed, without any pesticides and on land that is chemical-free for at least three years.
Moreover, they use the bio-wash method in the washing processes to prevent the use of harmful chemicals. Plastics or non-biodegradable material are not used for packaging. Artists from all over the world work together to create awe-inspiring Samtana T-shirts. In every new collection, they strive to make one major improvement in a way to make greenest Tees on earth.
Tvach is a global apparel brand which aims at creating organic and skin friendly fabrics. The fabrics are made from natural dyes and organic cotton, silk and bamboo fibres. They also add the goodness of turmeric, beetroot, pomegranate, myrablam, madder etc. in their apparel to create designs that are trendy.
Anokhi is a brand that follows ethical values even while it provides support to the artisans of Jaipur who work from their hometown. It is one of the oldest brands in the market which is into organic fashion, an expert in block printing and vegetable dyeing. The designs of Anokhi are a blend of bold graphics and colours with contemporary styles.
UV &W is a brand that belongs to Venus group from Ludhiana, Punjab and is the first company in India which deals in marketing certified organic cotton clothing. It offers a wide range of organic cotton clothing for men, women and children. It is one of the few brands in India that boasts of having GOTS certification by the Control Union in Netherlands.
Based in Gujarat, Bhu:sattva is an organic clothing brand which started its journey with the concept of fair trade, ethics of non-violence and sustainability. This idea is implemented in the entire supply chain including the core designing team and artisans. The fibres used in making apparels are hemp, bamboo, organic cotton and silk, soya bean, modal, banana, flax, jute, khadi, aloe vera, pineapple etc. Their skilled artisans use ancient techniques like block printing, painting and hand embroidery.
Along with organic cotton clothing, one of the few brands that promote bamboo clothing is - Do you speak Green. The brand manufactures a variety of beautiful garments that are fashionable and stylish for men, women and children. The brand has a GOTS certified factory and their products are sold on most of the e-commerce websites like Flipkart, Naaptol, Junglee, Jabong etc. They work with Fusion Clothing Company which has a factory in Tirupur for the last 21 years.
Ethicus displays a collection of traditional and colourful saris and other women clothing. The brand uses Apache organic cotton and Ahimsa silk to make saris, stoles and dupattas. The brand encourages farmers to cultivate high quality cotton in large quantities using traditional method without using pesticides.
As these examples show, the organic concept is gradually gaining ground in India. Today, Indian organic brands are not only making a mark in India but internationally too.
References:
1. Thealternative.in
2. Auraherbalwear.com
3. Fortyredbangles.com
4. Samtana.com
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