Sustainable Art of Fabric Printing

Fabric Printing by hand is an ancient process of dyeing fabric with plant based dyes, first used in Indian sub-continent around 4th century. Today known as Batik, Tie and Dye or Block Screen Printing processes, they are becoming increasing popular in many fashion scenes viz. apparel, home decor, bags etc. Though hand fabric printing is a fair trade industry, with artisans working since generations in this field, it can be one of the most polluting processes as well. Team Sivalya has made it a mission to convert these processes into sustainable methodologies worldwide.

Hand prints is an art form once reserved for Royalty with designs created in real gold and silver and garments were decorated with gems and diamonds. Today this form of fabric designs are enjoyed by everyone and with a number of high society designers and fashion houses patronizing the hand print process, it is becoming quite popular and fashionable indeed.

Process of creating hand printed fabric is essentially manual and it has a high consumption of fossil fuel and electricity, and uses toxic dyes and massive amounts of water. Its production has a major impact on the environment, and batik businesses produce more CO2 emissions than any other small or medium enterprise. Taking away this form of production would mean taking away livelihood and means of survival for many grass root artisans. So need of the times is to fix the process and not eliminate it.

Team Sivalya has tied up with the fair trade artisans in India to help develop sustainable practices and create a more ecologically friendly product. It is a part of our mission to ensure that these artisans and their families do not loose their only source of income, but instead they utilize a cleaner and sustainable alternative to their production methodology in creating their fabric. We assist artisans in implementing cleaner, safer and a more efficient production process.

Our team works directly with artisans, through workshops on water and energy efficiency, providing technical assistance to help them adopt a sustainable production. Gas stoves which were lit throughout the day with oil have been changed to electric ones which consume a fraction of energy compared to old ones. Batik blocks are encouraged to be re-used as many times as possible before tossing away. Most importantly, we train them how to consume water efficiently which has resulted its consumption going down substantially.

Synthetic and potentially toxic dyes, which were previously used, have been replaced with plant based all-organic dyes. This has been the change which has impacted not only the manufacturer, but also the end user by reducing exposure to harmful dyes and colors. Our team has trained artisans on methods to extract and use colors from plants and flowers to create pure organic vegan dyes. It is our commitment to go green and create our apparel and tapestries from organic cotton and dyes as far as possible.

When you purchase from Sivalya, you not only make a difference in these artisans lives by helping them earn a living but you are ensured of a 100% organic and natural product which has a sustainable foot-print and is safe for you and your families.