LOVING ISLANDS PRODUCT UPDATE. PHOTOS & STORIES FROM BEHIND THE SCENES OF LOVING ISLANDS’ 1st 100% ORGANIC FAIR TRADE COTTON HOME WARES RANGE
With the launch of the Loving Islands’ online pop-up shop is now set for Sunday evening the 13th of December (Sydney AEST/GMT+10), it seems like a good time to share some of the photos and stories of the product development so far. Please feel free to leave your comments, questions or general feedback. Loloma, Tia.
Backstory: The development of an organic fair trade homewares range (I.e. kitchen tea towels and reusable cotton grocery shopping bags), began early in October 2015 with the attempt to source certified organic cotton from within Australia (evidently not possible). This brought about a cross-road decision between ‘natural’ cotton or ‘certified organic’. After deciding against the use of ‘natural’ cotton, on the grounds that the term didn’t rule out the use of chemicals in its production and the resulting detrimental effects on the environment, an international supplier of organic cotton was sought.
After some online research and the help of the Farm Hub Textile Exchange’s organic cotton producer directory, the not-for-profit Himshikha Development Project based in Ahmedabad, India, was determined as the official supplier and manufacturer of the 100% organic and fair trade cotton fabrics and products.
Having received samples and after multiple revisions of product specifications, the 1st shipment of 100% organic fair trade cotton home wares will be arriving in Sydney, Australia by the end of November 2015. From here the kitchen tea towels will be hand-printed in Sydney in limited runs of local designers’ illustrations using Australian eco-friendly water based paints from Permaset. The reusable cotton grocery shopping bags have been hand-printed in India using a traditional wood block printing method with natural dyes approved as an input by the Global Organic Textile Standards (GOTS).
Photos (stay tuned for more updates!):
Notes and sources:
* Find out more information on the Farm Hub Textile Exchange here
* Find out more information on the Himshikha Development Project here
* Find out more information on Permaset’s professional eco-friendly paints here
* Find out more information on the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) here
* Loving Islands online pop-up shop will launch on Sunday evening, the 13th of December 2015
* Loving Island online pop-up shop is now closed, however will reopen in 2016!