Apr 19, 2017

Eco-Friendly Textiles - Using Natural Dyes

With Earth Day upon us, I wanted to write about something that we are all in close contact with everyday of our lives - textiles.  We adorn ourselves with them, we sleep in them, we hug them, and we sometimes sit on them too!  But, do we stop and think what goes into making our clothing, our bed linen, our pillows, etc.?

 
At Maka Maka, we pay close attention to the kind of textiles we choose to create our home textile collection. We use only handwoven, sustainable fabrics to create our finished products of bed linen, pillows, and even some home and fashion accessories.

However, I wanted to write more about using natural dyes and how use of chemical dyes cause irreparable harm to us.  
  • About 8000 different chemicals are used in a Chemical dyeing processes in its various stages.
  • The water consumption is almost 40 times the weight of the fabric
  • The chemical dye seeps into ground water and pollutes drinking water reserves causing carcinogenic elements to be consumed by us 
Deshaj Collection
If we as informed consumers make conscious buying decisions and purchase textile products, such as, apparel and home textiles that use only natural or azo free dyes to give color to the products, we can bring a change in the demand and supply dynamics of eco-friendly textiles!
The commonly used natural dyes are derived from herbs such as indigo plants, turmeric roots, madder root, and haritaki.
Haritaki - green
Turmeric - yellow, gold
Indigo - shades of blue
Madder Root - shades of red and maroon
Onion - rich, vibrant shades of orange, yellow, rust, brown 
Block printing in Rajasthan and Gujarat is primarily done using natural dyes.  The abundant sunshine is also conducive to the colors being more vibrant and rich.