Aranya Natural, Providing Sustainable Livelihood Opportunity To People With Disabilities

From textile waste to chemical dyes – both harm the environment and cause pollution in their own way. But when we talk of giving our clothes a conscience, what do we actually mean? Does it mean we make mindful choices when buying something? Or does it mean we recycle what we own? We think it is not only about making sustainable fashion choices, but also understanding that those choices are keeping livelihoods going across India. One such place is Aranya Natural.

Started in 1994, Aranya Natural was set up in a small room with just four employees. From Aranya Natural started the Srishti Fund for children with disabilities of tea plantation workers, which is now providing them with vocational training and education. Today Aranya Natural is helping more than 40 young adults with disabilities earn a livelihood by using sustainable methods. One of them is Bhanumathy.

Bhanumathy has been associated with Aranya Natural since she was 16 and was the first woman employee here. Today, she is a floor supervisor and master trainer at Aranya Natural.

Home to stunning tea plantations and lush green forests, Munnar is also home to a vast array of flora and fauna. Most of the raw material used in the dyeing process at Aranya Natural is sourced locally, while the rest comes from other parts of the country.

Aranya Natural specialises in indigo dyeing, a colour that is extracted naturally. The cloth is dipped into a huge barrel, several times over two to five days depending on the shade and intensity required. This process not only ensures that the water is used again, but a special plant also keeps the coloured water from polluting the groundwater.

The process of dyeing the cloth is quite interesting as well. In its journey to indigo, the coloured cloth starts off as blue, which turns green during the process, and then back to blue again. If this is not the beauty of nature, then what is?

But Aranya Natural is in sync with nature through more than just natural dyes. The organisation also specialises in eco-printing, using leaves from the surrounding forests. Along with that, block printing and batik printing are also done at Aranya Natural.

Shibori is the Japanese art of manual tie-dyeing and the team at Aranya Natural has trained under the Japanese textile artist Yoshiko Wada. She taught the young adults special techniques of Shibori art, which are now a signature hallmark of Aranya Natural's creations. In fact, one of the artisans came up with such a unique innovation, that became so popular, that Yoshiko Wada named the technique after him.

By giving opportunities to these young adults, Aranya has ensured a sustainable livelihood for them while ensuring that the environment is protected too.

Ratna Krishnakumar, Managing Trustee, Srishti Trust said, 

Aranya Natural was founded about 27 years ago. Srishti Trust was formed very recently to help physically and mentally challenged young adults in Munnar since they have no other avenue of work. Creative work was found to be more useful to make them self-sufficient and independent.