Know your fabric
Eco-Fashion Wear For Women
At The Kaatn Trail, we take immense pride in our rich Indian textile history, ergo it becomes our prime responsibility to revive the skillful art of spinning, weaving and even dyeing. With that reason, we essentially use handcrafted khadi, hand-loom fabrics and create eco-fashion clothing for women. We have also collaborated with some expert dyers in the industry for our natural dyed fabrics. Natural dye has immense health and environment benefits.
With the growing awareness for eco-friendly clothing and sustainable fashion, it’s highly imperative that we take conscious efforts and ensure rightful production of eco-fashion wear for women.
Just as mountains and trees are of different shapes and sizes and oceans have diverse shades, same is the story of these handcrafted garments. Inconsistencies in weaving and dyeing will only affirm the fact that it’s handmade by skillful artisans across India, hence making it even more precious. Let’s admire and honor this nature of nature by embracing its irregularities.
Hand-spun fabrics -
Spinning is an ancient textile art in which fibers are drawn out and twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff. A very effective spinning wheel, popularly known as charkha was invented in India.
Mahatma Gandhi brought the charkha into wider use with his teachings. He hoped the charkha would assist the people of India achieve self-sufficiency and independence, and therefore used the charkha as a symbol of the Indian independence movement.
Hand-woven fabrics -
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth.
The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them.
Khadi fabrics -
Khadi or khaddar is hand-spun, hand-woven natural fiber cloth. It can be woven from cotton or silk or wool fibers. To make it simple, fabric that has been hand-spun and hand-woven both is called a Khadi. All handloom are not khadi but all khadi are handloom. Its the spinning of yarn or thread that decides if its Khadi or not.
Natural Dyed Fabrics -
What is natural dye:-
It purely means that the fabric used in making this garment is dyed using natural sources like plants, flowers, fruits and herbs. For example, we have used Aritha chal for natural white, madder for pink, dhawai flower for peach, pomegranate peels for yellow and green, and so on. The revival of this heritage process of dying provides us with an invaluable way to eco-friendly clothing in cotton western wear for women. These natural dyes are non–carcinogenic and generally non-allergic. They are also known to have healing properties. They have lesser environmental impact as compared to chemical dyes since they are biodegradable and do not cause pollution on disposal.
Natural dyed fabrics need special care owing to the properties of the dyes. Initial few washes are extremely critical. These fabrics require your time and effort in maintenance just the way they were brought into this world. Lets make ec-fashion a way of life. Hence, please follow the instructions carefully for its long and colorful life -
- Wash it inside out and with all the love in your heart.
- Cold gentle hand wash with mild liquid detergents.
- Do not wring.
- Dry it in a cozy shaded corner of your house.
- Citrus juice may discolor the fabric
- Colors may rub.
- Natural dyed garments may bleed color in initial 2-3 washes before settling in for a final hue. Do not panic, it's just the excess dye that is getting washed away.
- If you notice color patches, rewash for evenness.
- Hot iron as desired.
Feel free to contact us at trailblazer@thekaatntrail.com to know more about our fabrics.