Dress to save the planet

Known for their comfortably organic cotton outfits, Tula has given farmers, weavers and craftsmen a leg up by going back to basics

September 28, 2017 04:45 pm | Updated 04:45 pm IST

Chennai, 26/09/2017 : The eco-friendly cotton cloths at the Tula in Chennai. Photo : S. R. Raghunathan

Chennai, 26/09/2017 : The eco-friendly cotton cloths at the Tula in Chennai. Photo : S. R. Raghunathan

At the Kalakshetra Foundation’s annual “haat”, the assistant at the Tula shop stood wearing a lovely off-white kurta with just the right sliver of block-printed borders on the sleeves and front slit. I joked that I would buy it. “Everyone says that!” she laughed. “But I have run out of kurtas of this pattern.” In fact, she didn’t have kurtas of any pattern. That is the allure of Tula, the Earth-friendly-fabric marketed by OFM.

Tula has a wonderful back story. “It began with our work for safe-food and sustained agriculture,” said VR Ananthoo of OFM. “We found that 70% of those pushed into agrarian crisis were cotton farmers. We opened urban food markets, but what about non-food products?” Starting in 2013, his team spoke to 30 small, marginalised, dry land farmers in the Thirumangalam area and collated facts. Cotton baling needs gallons of water and energy. Spinning and weaving exploded due to big garment factories, dyeing killed the rivers and water table with chemicals as in Thiruppur. With high investments, cloth mills threw working-from-home women out of jobs. Small farmers, spinners and weavers lost their livelihoods.

It was clear: We had to go back to our old ways of making cloth, follow the Gandhian “distributed, decentralised” economy. Cotton cloth-making had to be rural and local. At all the areas they visited between 2008 and 2014, Ananthoo’s team heard the same statement: “I am the last person in my family/village engaged in spinning/weaving.” It was uneconomical, there was no respect for weavers, earnings were small. BT cotton was introduced in 2002 and by 2012, 95% of the cotton grown was BT. Suicide numbers had increased among Hubli and Vidarbha cotton farmers after they went BT. “And we were all wearing BT cotton! We needed an alternative at least for ourselves. So we travelled, documented, learnt and created Tula.”

As a first step, the team would ensure the cotton was grown organically and handspun/handwoven locally. It would be dyed with natural colours and tailored manually, thus saving five livelihoods. Garment-making would turn non-polluting and non-exploitative. Spinning could be primary or secondary but the income would go back to the kitchen. “With an investment of one lakh each from 15 friends, we started our work as an experiment with 15 cotton farmers, 35-40 spinners, 15 farmers, five natural dyers and five tailors. We would prove that rural economy demanded only low investment per employment. We started in Madurai in 2013 and expanded operations to Karnataka where we would revive the traditional Jayadhar cotton — possible because of quick turnaround of money, effective marketing and high discipline. We sold Tula cloth and garments from suitcases at meetings we attended. We would say, ‘You heard what we said about farmers’ plight. So now buy these’.”

People who buy Tula garments always return for more because of its feel, says Ananthoo. It is all word-of-mouth, people Google it. NRIs buy them as gifts. One family bought a whole range of outfits as wedding dresses — theirs became a Tula wedding. People sport Tula and post pictures on FB. The Tula value-chain leaves the lightest footprints, it revives the art of natural dyeing, where even the mordants are chemicals-free. “Our latest is the blue extracted from Aparajitha flowers (Sangupushpam).” Colours can be got from pomegranate, turmeric, vembadam and other plant derivatives. The buttons are from coconut shells, not plastic, so even after they are discarded, they bring no harm to the Earth. Tula follows ethical, eco-friendly practices, it tries to revive skills, restore traditional art and craft.

Tula is now well-known in the alternative world. Tula garments are not cheap because it pays farmers, spinners and weavers well. Women are paid separately for starching and reeling. You have to make a conscious decision to buy this product. And it is happening. “A 20+ woman visited us, loved the fabric and sitting in the balcony, produced a book full of trendy designs for Tula.” Will someone come forward to get them tailored? Tula was born in the same garage as Restore and OFM. There was little space for clothes display, and the garments had to be protected from people handling them with “veggie hands” after shopping at OFM. So they were stocked in suitcases and cardboard boxes on a top shelf. A circle of volunteers/ambassadors/activists helps put up stalls in organic/craft melas and exhibitions. “Only one-third of the product is sold in the Indira Nagar showroom.”

OFM and Tula co-existing (food-and-clothing) is a boon. Those who come for food items are exposed to clean, organic, livelihood-giving cotton. You get your Tula-buy rolled in paper or in paper bags. There is no brochure or visiting card.

The Tula team’s dream is for people to come forward to add value to the garments, embellish the products, replicate this model, create an organic line and sell them. “We don’t mind even if people take them and run away, this is not bound by big investment.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.