STORIES
JUST A FEW THINGS WE HAVE DONE, SO FAR ...
Launch of New Upcycled Store
Exciting News for Eco-Fashion Enthusiasts! We're thrilled to announce the opening of our new boutique, Upcycled Store. Located right next to the Sprout Cafe, near Verite, in Auroville, opening hours are Monday to Saturday 8.30am until 6pm. At Upcycled, our products aren't just natural and stylish, they're even more of a statement of care for our planet. Almost every item was crafted upcycling fabrics and yarns created at The Colours of Nature. Indulge in our range of products dyed with eco-friendly, natural dyes and made from organic cotton. Join us in our journey towards a greener future in fashion. We can't wait to see you there!
NIFT Graduates Upcycling project
In 2023 we welcomed two graduate students from the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Already friends, Nandini Garg and Nidhi Anand followed our brief and dug into starting with sorting through a lot of fabrics in our storeroom - all naturally dyed of course.
They created one upcycled range each. You can see Nidhi's earth tones here on the right on the line and scattered throughout our site. And Nandini created her upcycled patchwork collection in dreamy baby blue and pink tones . Both incorporated hand embroidery and some quilting.
They also experimented with creating various dip-dye collections based on our existing patterns - the classic designs in a new interpretations. Watch this space as we plan to offer the result for you to buy. And we will be sharing more on their processes.
Water treatment system
At The Colours of Nature our starting point it water - to save on it and to keep it clean. It follows that we have always had a water treatment system on our premises. However, recently we have made quite a leap in our evolution. The latest upscaling of our water treatment system is State of the art leaving nothing to chance when it comes to ensuring that the water exiting our processes is fit to water also edible plants.
Of course, the aim is to close the loop in the plant to product and seed to seam process, and although we have a small field where we are cultivating some indigo we do dream of doing this on a large scale, extracting the indigo and all, one day. However, it is already true that on our premises not a drop of water is ever wasted.
STORY Mfg. work
We are truly honoured and humbled by the opportunity to do work for stalwart slow fashion brand Story Mfg. Not only are they interested in how each fabric and garment is made, they like to share their stories about the processes too. The work we do for them is some of our best, truly yummy creations. And Hailey Bieber was spotted wearing one of their pieces, the Mother Earth Bark Ripple T-shirt, which we had a hand in too. For an image of that and to read more of this lovely customer of ours, read the VOGUE India story
We can only agree with Saaed, who started Story Mfg. with his wife Kathy: “Fashion can be a really strong form of social activism; that’s the view we take. We are the grassroots. Small brands are needed to plant these seeds, and then they grow and grow. ”
NEST to the Rescue
Thanks to awesome NEST (www.buildanest.org) , The Colours of Nature not only survived but thrived through the 2020 COVID pandemic.
The unit had found itself no longer able to neither produce nor ship products to clients, and yet had some 70 employees to keep paying salaries to. Via the Nest newsletter we found out about their COVID-19 Relief Grant. A non-profit organisation dedicated to helping artisans in different ways, Jesus had met the founder, Rebecca, when they were both LS&Co. Collaboratory fellows. As Nest members, The Colours of Nature was eligible to apply and was soon supplying surgical type masks to Auroville Village Action Group (AVAG, https://villageaction.in) The Nest grant paid for the production of the masks, which were given for free to the villages nestled around the TCoN facilities and Auroville. We obtained permission to have 2-3 people come every few days in order to maintain the fermented indigo pots as well as the needed permissions to undertake the stitching work. Since then we have added more people to the unit.
LS&Co. Collaboratory
When Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co) decided to start their Collaboratory program to give a new generation of apparel makers committed to the important issues of our time a unique opportunity to come together to collaborate on social and environmental solutions for their organizations, the first issue they tackled was water, and Jesus was one of the first fellows. Handpicked along with nine others from all over the world, or own Ciriza Larraona, was invited to a San Francisco workshop at the LS&Co. Eureka Innovation Lab and mentored throughout the process. Detailing how The Colours of Nature would save water over the life cycle of a knitted sweater by dyeing at fibre stage, the unit was one of few to secure funding of $50,000 - the maximum amount awarded - for implementation. We thank LS&Co. for our upscaled and impressive indigo vat installation.
Read here the LS&Co. Collaboratory introduction of Jesus - the founder of The Colours of Nature - along with another of the first batch fellows.
When the Discovery Channel did an episode on the colour blue...
... they visited none other than yours truly, The Colours of Nature. For their How Do They Do It Series 14, Episode 11, we featured, along with other select locations in India and globally.
WATCH
Reviving the 100% Natural Indigo fermentation Dyeing process
In 1993, Jesus found, in a small Karnataka village, a family who had handed the knowledge of natural indigo fermentation dyeing down for generations. They shared about their processes and Jesus and the team, realising the tell-tale smell of indigo fermentation was missing, brought it back to 100% natural. During our journey from four humble 200 litre vats to 62 submerged 1000 litre vats, no water has ever been wasted. By now, having added many different plants, we master the entire palette and employ 100+ people. With colour vibrance, fastness and eco‐friendliness the key parameters, we are known as one of the top global Expert Natural Dye Houses, and still do many things the old-fashioned way. For more, click the below.
A NOT SO BRIEF HISTORY MANIFESTO