Barkha’s Custom Sourcing was founded with a mission that was going to be straightforward, even though not simple! We would be a resource for a wide variety of “sustainable” textiles made of different natural fibers which I, Barkha, love working with, while advancing my passionate quest for setting up an empowerment-through-work group in India involving disadvantaged women. It turns out that things are much more complicated than that….Environmental and Social Sustainability is still our main guiding force but it is a much more complex problem to tackle than I had ever imagined!!
Globalization is not basically environmentally friendly. The endless cycle of mass consumption by consumers uses up our planet’s finite natural resources, and contributes to global warming. This also leads to large scale farming which uses massive amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, which are environmental toxins. Globalization has negative side effects for the human population too. It can lead to the exploitation of workers in industrial sweatshops and the impoverishment of the small-scale farmers in the developing countries.
As a global fabric sourcing company, we have had to make many new decisions about how we source and whom we source from through the years. The decisions we take, are based on our becoming more informed about better environmental and labor standards.
As we have learned, there is no such state as true “sustainability” to be achieved. There are always trade-offs we have to make in favor of achieving certain goals more important in the scheme of things. We weigh the pros and cons of the manufacturing processes’ impact on the environment, look at the impact of its production, either by its use of local resources, or by the way it’s transported. Sustainable sources of raw materials are preferred.
The people behind our fabrics are very important to us. We work with small scale handloom weavers for our specialized artisan textiles. These are weavers with traditional skills handed down to them through many generations of their families. The fabrics like our organic cottons and Tencels come from mills and units that are GOTS and/or OEKO-TEX certified and follow fair labor standards.Both Fair Trade and fair labor provide a fair wage, safe and healthy work environments, and a workforce free from forced and child labor. The most significant difference between FT certified and fair labor is that FT includes building direct, long-term and empowering relationships with economically and socially marginalized producers that live in developing countries, and supporting community development and cultural diversity. Fair labor standards do not necessarily include any of these. there are, though, third party certifications for fair labor mills including GOTS and SA8000. The ISO is working on the details of another now. But the small-scale mills and artisans we work with, often cannot afford to invest in such expensive certification, so I do the checking you would want to do for yourselves, and make sure that the principles of fair labor are followed.
We feel that every day brings us closer to our vision of starting the self-help group for women. All the knowledge we gain from vendors, clients and colleagues help us make better and informed decisions about product choices. As mentioned before, there is no such thing as a truly sustainable business or product but unless we try to make some difference, nothing will change for the better…..…..So, please Thread gently on our Earth.
