When it comes to being eco-friendly, we pay close attention to the food we eat, but tend to ignore the clothes we wear. Wearing natural clothing is as important as eating natural food.
Since 2007, 'Minc Ecofashion', a Bangalore-based fashion store for women and young girls, have come forward to promote environment-friendly fashion and to revive quality khadi, through its unique textiles.
The woman behind this is Mini Varkey Shibu, a Kochiite and an alumni of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has worked with fashion houses at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore and was Head Designer with Weekender Kids at Bangalore before starting on her own.
“To promote eco-friendly fashion has been a prime objective while starting the store,” says Mini. “We also want to support weavers, as well as the tribal cotton farmers.”
Incidentally, organic cotton has been sourced from the tribal farmers of Sittilingi in Tamil Nadu. “The tribal cotton farmers were motivated to grow organic cotton by ‘The Friends of Sittilingi’, an NGO run by Dr Regi Mathew and Dr Latha,” says Mini Shibu. “The organic cotton is bought at a higher market price to give an incentive to the farmers.”
Initially, only natural fabrics with a dedicated line of organic khadi were used. The collections were made from organic cotton, hand spun, hand woven and handloom fabric available in the market.
'Minc' opened its second store in June 2008 through which the royal quality clothing of the 19th century were introduced. Mini says the brand is eco-conscious in all aspects. “The collection is made from natural fabrics-cotton, linen, silk or wool,” she says. “Dyes used for colouring are vegetable and azo-free.”
'Minc Ecofashion' will start its online sales from April 13.