Sustainability may have become a talking point, but Delhi entrepreneur Khitish Pandya has been meeting his sustainability goals for nearly 20 years. On the one hand, he has been ensuring sustainable and eco-friendly hand-woven silk-based sarees and home-furnishing products. On the other hand, he has provided more than 1,200 adivasi and rural women from villages of Bihar and Jharkhand with a sustainable income through his brand Ecotasar, founded in 2007.
“We address environmental sustainability through the raw materials like natural fibre that we use in our products. We, in fact, want to address economic sustainability and sustainable livelihood by employing a section of rural women on a part-time basis. Financial security is a challenge for them,” he says.
Exporting silk-based products
Ecotasar is known for making hand-woven sarees, kurtas, and home-furnishing products like cushion covers, among others. To make these products, the company relies on a rural workforce. “These women know how to produce silk yarn from the raw material tussar. So, we provide them with raw materials and they convert them into silk yarn, which we use for our textile products. We use the thinner silk yarn for our sarees and kurtas, and the thicker ones for home-furnishing products like cushion covers,” adds Pandya.
Ecotasar’s products are not only popular in India but also across the world. “About 30% of our net sales come from the domestic market, and the rest 70% come from exporting products outside the country. In the domestic market, the company works with brands like Fabindia and Jaypore.com. It also has a good customer base in southern cities like Thrissur and Kochi.
The company focuses on using natural fibres like wool, cotton, silk and linen. “Our sarees are different from the likes of Kanjivaram or Banarasi. We try to make sarees that women can carry every day to their workplaces without feeling burdened. To prepare those, we only use handlooms. The whole process is carbon- neutral. The entire cocoon-rearing process is done by hand, so no fossil fuel is involved. We provided the employees with pedal machines, and they made silk yarn with it. We also buy natural cotton from certified mills. So, all the products that we use are natural, bio-degradable, non-polluting, and renewable,” adds Pandya.
Upcoming collection
As the temperature is rising across the nation, Ecotasar is all set to launch its summer collection in a month. “Every two to three months, we come up with new collections. These collections are a mix of 50% silk and 50% linen, as silk-made products become extremely difficult to wear during summers. We have not named the new collection yet. It’s a very breezy one. We have included a lot of pastel colours. We are known for our signature colour-blocking style, and here also, we have focussed on that.”