Organic Textiles: Blessings For The Future!

The demand of organic textiles in India is much less and has not yet reached the peak for Indian entrepreneurs to jump into organic manufacturing, says Avinash Mayekar.

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We are moving in loops. It’s a strange phenomenon. If we introspect ourselves, we would find our current lifestyle and the world around, is at a much advanced stage than where our ancestors were; but a deeper look to our current scenario will show us that the future is heading us back to our roots. Before industrialisation crops were then grown with the help of seeds and natural resources, there were no artificial add-ons needed for crop survival, whereas today there is a bucket list of different fertilizers, additives, preservatives and chemical products used right from seed germination to the ripening and transportation of the produce. These add-ons were mainly for increasing the profitability margin, survival chances, shell life and productivity. Looking at the side effects that it creates on the environment and health, I would say we are totally on the wrong foot.

In the mid era, we were so driven to produce the maximum at lowest margins that we simply neglected the impacts that our advance add-ons created. It came to light only in the 20th century and so people shifted to farming without harmful pesticides and chemicals for their own good and for that of the environment. So in other words, we are just retracing our footprints back to the origin of cultivating naturally but with the help of modern science. This improvement in agricultural practice is not limited to producing only food products but a more practiced phenomenon on raw materials of textile like cotton, jute, silk, ramie or wool.