Material Innovations

India has a culture that is rich with traditions, festivals, and colors. Its images are saturated, and its history dense. When speaking about India Mark Twain said, “India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astrictive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only!”

Well Mr. Twain…well said.

Through out the semester I have been studying and researching the industrial city of Coimbatore. Coimbatore is the 3rd largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Shown right.  “According to ancient manuscripts, Coimbatore’s history can be traced to the Irula tribal chief Kovan and his clan who were it’s earliest settlers and the founders of “Kovanpatti” a part of Kongunadu.” Over time this became Coimbatore, which is also known at Kovai.

Coimbatore is most known for its booming textiles industry, which is embedded deeply in the cities roots. “Cotton cultivation and production is recorded from second millennium BC and the earliest urban civilization of the subcontinent… As Indian textiles established themselves as an increasingly significant trade commodity, prized from China to Mesopotamia for their brilliance of colour, unparalleled colour fastness, fineness of weave and rich variety of designs, the weaving of various fibres also received further impetus.”

In Coimbatore, there are currently more than 30,000 textile mills.   It is one of the top 10 fastest growing cities in India. According to Coimbatore city’s website, Coimbatore, is the hub of textile spinning and weaving mills. this has gotten it known as Manchester of South India. Do to the growing needs of the textile  market, Many textile mills has upgraded their textile machinery and increased their capacity.

Despite the 2 percent rise in Indian cotton prices, “India is now seen exporting about eight million bales of cotton, mostly to Pakistan and China, in the year to September 2011, up from earlier estimates of about 3 million bales, trade officials said.”

Indian culture is steeped with exquisite and extravagant traditions and festivals Holi – the festival of colors – is undoubtedly the most beautiful and magical Hindu festival to research. “It’s an occasion that brings in unadulterated joy and mirth, fun and play, music and dance, and, of course, lots of bright colors”

Holi is an ancient festival of India that occurs during the last months of winter. It celebrates colors, rituals, the spring, and the full moon. “Holi helps to bring the society together and strengthen the secular fabric” of India.  It also hits a sweet spot with cannabis lovers, as there is a widespread participation of “bhang” -spiced cannabis mixed into a delicious looking milk beverage.

“Also, the tradition of the Holi is that even the enemies turn friends on Holi and forget any feeling of hardship that may be present. Besides, on this day people do not differentiate between the rich and poor and everybody celebrate the festival together with a spirit of bonhomie and brotherhood.

In the evening people visit friends and relatives and exchange gifts, sweets and greetings. This helps in revatalising relationships and strengthening emotional bonds between people.”

“In earlier times when festival celebrations were not so much commercialized Holi colors were prepared from the flowers of trees that blossomed during spring, such as the Indian Coral Tree (parijat) and the Flame of the Forest (Kesu), both of which have bright red flowers. These and several other blossoms provided the raw material from which the brilliant shades of Holi colours were made. Most of these trees also had medicinal properties and Holi colors prepared from them were actually beneficial to the skin.”

“Over the years, with the disappearance of trees in urban areas and greater stress for higher profits these natural colours came to be replaced by industrial dyes manufactured through chemical processes.” As you would assume these chemical’s do not have the same healing or beneficial effects. This is a cautionary chart from the Holifestival.org. Also on their website is a list of body friendly colors that they suggest people use during the celebrations.

Another, less colorful festival is the Saraswatu Puja Festival.

“Saraswati Puja is the ritual worship of the goddess Saraswati. The festival is celebrated in the month of January-February in India. Saraswati is considered the goddess of knowledge and learning. Saraswati literally means ‘the flowing one’. The color yellow is given special importance on this day. On this day, Saraswati is dressed in yellow garments and worshipped. People prefer to wear yellow clothes on this holy day. Sweets of yellowish color are distributed among relatives and friends. The youngest girl of the family wears a yellow saree as a custom.”

AMONG THE MANY FESTIVALS IS ALSO THE TAMIL FESTIVAL.  “As Coimbatore gears up for the World Classical Tamil Conference, the city sports a colourful mood with murals depicting Tamil culture on the roadside walls.” One such illustration can be seen on the left . Tamil is a language native to India, and this region as well as surrounding places such as Sri Lanka.

From festivals to rituals, Indian culture is truly invested in the effects and meanings of color. The Hindu concept of Chakras is an example of how colors are used to connect and illustrate one’s self and center with colors. Starting in the 11th Century, the number of major chakras has shifted as the concept has spread, generally landing at 6 or 7 as a standard number.

Beyond chakras, certain colors take on other roles in Coimbatore’s society. Red is an example of one such color.

“In Indian tradition, the color red signifies purity, joy and celebration. Indian culture considers red the color of happiness and prosperity and believes red attracts good luck. For these reasons, Indian brides traditionally wear red at their weddings. The combination of gold and red represents wealth and good fortune.”

Another color is Saffron. Kashmiri saffron, shown to right is a highly sought after color. These are bundles of the flowers dried stigma. This highly effective, and expensive strand of colorant is not found outside of India.

Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition don saffron robes.

Furthermore, the top stripe on the Indian Flag is a color which is officially called deep saffron.

Originally, only natural and herbal colors were used for pigment production. Saffron, cadmium red, bond black, and indian yellow are examples of this. However, limited recourses, a growing market, and consumer needs and desires for more saturated and longer lasting colors has driven the market towards synthetic color production. Many of these pigments, paints and dyes can have physical effects on the users including poisoning, sickness, blindness and death. yikes!

Such side effects put users such as artists, crafters, fabric dyers, make-up wearers, and artificially colored food eaters…so basically everyone at risk. As a result of the knowledge of this information, many green, eco friendly, or user friendly products are popping up. One group of scientists in Coimbatore are researching this very topic.

According to the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, “There is worldwide interest in process development for the production of pigments from natural sources due to a serious safety problem with many artificial synthetic colorants, which have widely been used in foodstuff, cosmetic and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.  Many fungi have been reported to produce non-carotenoid pigments but only a few of those have been explored as possible food colorants”

The group recently published an article on cotton dyeing methods in “Fibers and Polymers” titled: “Dyeing of cotton yarn with five water soluble fungal pigments obtained from five fungi”. According to the abstract, The present study aimed to assess the potentiality of water soluble fungal pigments for dyeing on cotton yarn.

The chemists use the five fungi to create color and had the most luck with red and yellow. Two colors that are difficult to have good saturation levels of. These Coimbatorians could be on to a good design solution and alternative to synthetic processes.

Researching and seeing India via a computer screen is not the best way to know a place. But, it does serve its purpose. There is so much to learn and know that can only be obtained through experience. Needless to say, I would love to go to Coimbatore and experience it first hand. Especially during the Holi the festival of colors.

Almost everyone buys their clothes, most know what kind of fabric they are wearing, some notice where it was manufactured, and even fewer take the time to acknowledge the process that went into making them. In the Unites States, with the exception of boutique stores and artisan clothing, most of our clothes have been manufactured over seas, shipped to the USA, and folded neatly on store shelves with no residue of its production. However, how is it possible that a shirt which has been woven, dyed, labored over, stitched, and then shipped half way across the globe can cost $7.99 at a department store? What is the true cost of that shirt, and who is paying for it?

Coimbatore, India is a city filled with textile mills and production. But where there is production there is waste. These mills, although good for the economy of the city, cause many problems in terms of pollution. To name a few they cause air pollution, noise pollution, and water pollution. According to a recent research paper by Prakash Nelliyat on the socio-economics of textile industries in India, “Recently, many of the South Asian countries are experiencing severe environmental problems due to their rapid industrialization. This phenomenon is very common where the polluting industries like textile dyeing, leather tanning, paper and pulp processing, sugar manufacturing, etc. thrive as clusters.”  Thus a place like Coimbatore, which houses some 25,000 textile mills is suffering because of its growth.

Many people and groups, such as the TAMILNADU POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, which is a citizen’s charter of the Department of Environment and Forests, are taking action. Since most of the ground and water pollutants are coming out of small industries which are not heavily regulated, the TNPCB operates to measure new industries on sustainable matters. “TNPCB is taking effective steps for safe disposal of hazardous wastes and has completed the inventory of hazardous waste generating units and also identified sites for disposal of hazardous wastes. TNPCB is creating environmental awareness in the State through the Environmental Training Institute, Environmental Awareness Cell, Environmental Awareness Programme, Environmental Pavilion constructed at the Periyar Science and Technology Centre (Chennai), NGO Cell, Publishing of New Letters/Pamphlets on environmental issues etc.”  Below is a chart that states their monitoring periods according to the toxicity of the dye colors.

The local Coimbatore universities are also interested in raising awareness and finding a solution to this problem. At the Mettupalayan Forest College, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, researchers propose using eco friendly dyes that will increase both the quality of the surrounding waters, and, as a ramification, the price for consumers. “The main problem identified so far is the large discharge of inorganic salts while the formation of organochlorine compounds cannot be excluded in view of the use of hypochlorite for bleaching of the cotton. The use of more environment friendly production processes would increase the prize in the consumer countries with no more than 10-20%.” These percentages are minimal when compared to the non potable waters that are being directed into Coimbatore, and surrounding town Tirupur.

As the problems become more and more apparent, the concept of designing solutions spreads. In 2007, Indian clothing designer Anita Dongre launched “Grassroot” an eco friendly clothing collection that uses sustainable cloth and non toxic dyes. She has continued this line, and just come out with a 2011 series. Before this “Grassroots”, the idea of sustainable fashion had not yet hit the Indian market. Now, following the trends of the times, and needs of the people, eco friendly clothing is becoming more and more popular.

Despite the raise in monetary costs, people, (myself included) need to be aware of the socioeconomic effects our decisions have, and be willing to compensate. As the people of Coimbatore raise the bar on their environmental standards of textile production, we too can, and will, share the costs.

The Whole Earth Catalog from 40 years ago certainly has its share of items that seem ridiculous today.  Or maybe it just seems ridiculous that any subject under the sun can be turned into a hobby.  I guess average people don’t have time for or interest in hobbies and crafts as much these days, or they will just go out and buy the thing they need, for example, textiles for the home.  However, the section on weaving and other fiber arts is full of how-to guides, which I’m sure promoted the popularity of weaving everything that possibly could be woven.  I love images like this drawing, where it shows that the resident is clearly an enthusiast of this craft.

I noticed a particular book featured in the Whole Earth Catalog- “The Techniques of Rug Weaving” by Peter Collingwood (1968).  This is a book that my mentor today is telling me to check out.  I guess it is kind of a bible on this subject, and a more complete version has yet to replace it.  It is incredibly dense and full of illustrations of every possible weaving technique or knot that you could need.

Will I do anything with this information?  Will I end up actually producing rugs for a living, or is this not a market that will favor me in a western country?   After all, so many rugs come from factories in developing nations, which keeps them affordable for most people.  And if I also work in other techniques, will I ever be expert enough at weaving to draw the consumer for my rugs over other rugs?  Hopefully I will draw enough of a niche audience, as I take on the challenge of creating more of an art rug, rather than a traditional one, and not just leave myself as a hobbyist.

I really appreciate the efforts of the following artist.

Travis Meinolf, a recent graduate of California College of Arts, (actionweaver.com), has set up many projects where he brings the process of weaving to people who might otherwise know nothing about this essential process of creating the cloth that is a part of our everyday lives.  He has built a portable loom which he rolls out into a park or other public place where he just weaves and interacts with people who are curious.

For a project called “The Weaving Place,” he placed simple laser-cut looms in the Vancouver Art Gallery for the public to use.  The resulting small weavings were sewn together to create 15 blankets which were distributed to the homeless and to a women’s shelter.

Although cheap and convenient factory textiles abound, the homemade ones still outshine the rest.  They are the ones you don’t replace; they are the ones that carry on through generations.  They are made with love.

Behold, the Cruiser jacket by Filson Outdoor Clothing.  Since it is “tough enough for the woods but elegant enough for town” the Cruiser has been a best seller for over 100 years.  To date over half a million have been sold.

Filson started creating clothing and outdoor goods in 1897 to outfit the stampeders to the Klondike Gold Rush.  Clinton Filson spent a lot of time talking to his customers to ensure his designs met their needs.  As the Filson website states: “The stampeders depended on Filson. In that era, clothing wasn’t a matter of choice, but of survival.”

To this day the company stands behind Filson’s vision.  “Filson makes a natural fabric that will stand up to the worst abuse, and keep functioning for many years — in some cases for generations. Rugged, durable, and comfortable. These qualities never go out of style. Filson’s legacy is built upon its reputation for reliability, satisfaction, and honest values.”

Filson has two flagship stores located in Seattle, WA and Portland, OR and their products are sold at retailers around the world.  I wouldn’t go as far as to say Filson has been embraced by the mainstream…unless this audience is dominated by loggers, game wardens and outdoor workers.

High quality durable clothing is not what the masses seem to desire.  For the past decade consumers have been spending on fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M who translate the latest trends from runway to retail in record speed.

Fast fashion production methods are evidence of this statement from The Whole Earth Catalog of 1974: “Contemporary economics seem designed to diminish standards of excellence.  Even the durability and construction of clothing has deteriorated…”  So who’s the fashion victim?  According to the wise Clinton C. Filson, we are.

“The goods we quote must not be confounded with the cheap and vastly inferior grade with which the market is over-run. Such goods are not only useless for the purpose for which they are intended, but the person wearing them would be better off without them.”
-Clinton C. Filson 1914 Catalog

I guess the main thing about advertising that your product is sustainable is that you stand above the competition, and by doing so, you force the competition also to convert to sustainable practices so they don’t fall behind, which little by little is making sustainability more mainstream.  If you are transparent about thesource of your materials and the manufacturing process, those who hide these facts can be looked at suspiciously, at least by thoughtful consumers.

It seems many wool producers are giving us the supply chain details these days, some backing up their product with accreditation from Zque, a certification organization that ensures “environmental, social, and economic sustainability, animal welfare (non-mulesed), and traceability back to the source.”

I began my search for advertised product life cycle examples by looking at the New Zealand merino wool apparel company, Icebreaker (which has a store here in Portland), and came to find other similar examples such as Ibex and Smartwool.

Icebreaker has developed a tracing mechanism, appropriately called a “baacode,” posted on all products since 2008, which, once entered in their website, shows you the station or group of stations where the wool for your garment originated.  You can even get to know the rancher, in the case of my provided example baacode, Ray Anderson of Branch Creek, who cared for a particular flock of sheep.

Besides telling us about the source of the wool, and their ethical manufacturing processes, Icebreaker points out how wool is an annually renewable source (vs. synthetics).  As far as end of life cycle, I like what they have to say:

“You can bury your Icebreaker in your garden and it will compost. It’s built to work across all seasons, and last for many seasons – a counterpoint to disposable consumerism.”