More people are becoming increasingly concerned about the environment and human impact upon it and there is a growth in people wanting to buy eco-friendly products which have a reduced impact on the world we inhabit. 

There are lots of people selling organic cotton…but we are different.  Not only is our cotton organic but so too are our natural dyes, coming from organic plant origin (such as lemon, jaggery, pomegranate).

Indian Ayuvedic medicine also believes contact with the dyed cloth could even be beneficial to people since the cotton is infused with herbs as well as plants – such as chamomile and lavender.  These medicinal herbs add to the clothes having a therapeutic value, the fabric has been found to be helpful for people suffering from ailments such as skin allergies, sleeping problems and high blood pressure.  They are especially good for eczema. 

For the science bit – all our products are GOTS certified and have had all the necessary checks done on the process (from start to finish) to gain the accreditation of being organic. 

PLUS we are also proud to import beautiful organic silk shawls, again with the same environmental advantages (the process is termed ‘non-lethal’ meaning the silk worm is not killed in the process of silk extraction).  Guilt-free silk in other words!

Above all we want our products to be beautiful to both behold and wear – and be kind to the environment.  It’s true we use up energy to get the products over from India to the UK but we believe that we make up for this one negative carbon footprint by supporting organic cotton farming in India, that in turn sustains local people, wildlife and ultimately the ground in which it is grown for the future. 

Are there benefits from choosing organic cotton/dye garments?

In our opinion – yes, and lots!

Health benefits:

By choosing organic cotton you are:

• actively choosing to avoid the use of over 3000 chemicals directly or indirectly which go into processing normal chemically dyed textiles.   
• so what you are wearing is totally natural – and the fabric that acts as a barrier to outside pollutants is also helping to prevent any skin allergies or reactions, especially for sensitive skin such as babies and people with eczema.
• plus products dyes are combined with medicinal herbs so the clothes also have a lot of therapeutic value – the fabrics have been found helpful for people suffering from ailments such as skin allergies, insomnia and high blood pressure.

Local employment benefits:

By choosing organic cotton you are:

• promoting mass labour employment of local Indian people as hand-processing is involved from the initial stages of farming right through to dye-processing. 
• this work supports traditional methods and communities, offering fair incomes in good working conditions adhered to as part of the GOTS (Global Organic Textiles Standard) classification.

Environmental benefits:

By choosing organic cotton you are:

• promoting organic farming – which leads to a healthier ecosystem. 
• no pesticides or fertilizers are used – so the local water supply is not contaminated.
• natural predators are used as pest control. 
• crops are rotated so soil quality is not degraded with monoculture saturation. 
• even the waste products from the dyeing process are further used as fertilizer for agricultural practice since they are organic by nature.

And tigers??

We have been going to India and tracking wild tigers for over ten years now together.  In that time we have been incredibly lucky to observe over 40 different individual tigers, but sadly more than half of those are now dead.

We know that everyone knows tigers are an endangered species but we have seen it first hand and we feel compelled to do our bit to help keep them in the wild for future generations.

With this in mind we will be putting money from Tigermasala back into practical tiger conservation in India, through our favourite charity EIA – Environmental Investigation Agency.  Certain product lines will have an immediate donation to EIA – such as our Tiger Cubs Baby sleeping bag – and we will also be selling items such as greeting card packs where proceeds will go back into positive conservation of this endangered species.

If anyone feels the lure of India and especially trying find tigers in the wild don’t hesitate to get in touch – it’s our favourite topic of conversation!  We have lots of places we can recommend, not least our home from home – Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh.  You can even see the fort cliff top where we got engaged once upon a time…