Make Cotton Sustainable

NEWS REPORT / THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

The Ethicus of Organic Fashion

There is a new breed in town in India: The organic entrepreneur. People who have looked at their business with fresh eyes and tied it back to the millennia of tradition of caring for the earth, the soil aand the rooted Indian approach of balance between nature's elements. One such story being told in the Indian Express by
Vijayalakshmi Nachiar of Ethicus who is promoting her ‘ethical fashion’ brand from Appachi Cotton. Vijayalakshmi ties up her story with the fate of the weaver community and India’s handloom industry.

According to the Indian Express, the Ethicus story began in the sleepy town of Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, where a young and self-motivated couple, Mani Chinnaswamy and his wife Vijayalakshmi, the former with a graduate degree in management from the US and the latter with a graduate degree in textiles from Mumbai, inherited a three-generation old cotton business that was steeped in tradition, Appachi Cotton.

They worked on the concept of ‘inclusive and sustainable growth’ and adopted an innovative integrated contract farming model for cotton which helped ensure income for thousands of marginal farmers in the cotton production supply chain.

Mani started organic farming in the Kabini region in Mysore, which is an eco-sensitive area, involving 185 farmers which is now a certified organic farm. “To grow organic cotton in the region is ecologically viable as the Pollachi-Kabini region is home to a wealth of flora and fauna, including a tiger reserve and an elephant sanctuary that are under dire threat from synthetic genetically modified cotton cultivation which is contaminating the fragile forest reserves with its heavy use of chemicals,” says Vijayalakshmi.

The couple says there is a social stigma associated with farming. And traditional crafts like weaving are looked down upon. So the weaver community does not want their children to take up weaving but go for IT-related jobs. But Mani is encouraging these communities by ensuring that all players in the value chain, be it the environment and local wildlife, the farmers, the weavers, the centuries-old traditions, future generations and ultimately the very nation are taken forward to a better life.

Read the story here in The Indian Express
Photograph: www.ethicus.in