Fabric Care
Fabric
Our Kandu medium-coarse, lightweight textile is ambara charaka spun and hand-woven. This makes the wearer feel warm in winters and cool in summers. Free from harsh dyes and chemicals, Kandu is ideal for those who are ecologically conscious.
Colour
Natural colour in cotton is formed from the water-soluble tannins which are found on the surface and inside the lumen of cotton fibres. When the fabric is washed, the molecules re-orient and tannins are released along with the surface wax. This prevents the fibre from absorbing water. This is the reason why, unlike chemically dyed fabric, the intensity of the brown in Kandu textile increases over the first 10 washes, after which the colour stabilises.
Depending on the local environmental conditions, the shade of brown varies from one season to the other.
Dyes
Now and then, we have used natural colour dyed yarn as a design element only to further enhance the beauty of brown cotton. Some of the natural dyes used are, blue [extracted from indigo/Indigofera tinctoria], black [produced out of iron rust], yellow [derived from pomegranate/Punica granatum peel], brown [extracted from the heartwood of Kaggali/Acacia catechu plant], and scarlet red [derived from Alizarin,a non-toxic byproduct of coal tar]
Environment
Every 1 kilogram of conventionally grown and irrigated white cotton requires around 20,000 litres of water. Additionally, bleaching, de-sizing, mercerizing and yarn dyeing require another 50 litres for every kilogram, making it a water-intensive process. Brown cotton which is rain-fed and un-dyed requires negligible amount of ground-water, making it one of the most sustainable ways of producing textile. As it is completely natural, it is naturally bio-degradable.
Care
Like any other handmade product, Kandu fabric also needs care. As cotton is strong when wet, we suggest you hand-wash the fabric separately or with similar colours in cold water with mild/eco detergents and dry under shade. Our fabrics are NOT pre-washed, hence consider a shrinkage of 2.5% to 3.5%. Short staple length brown cotton is spun in low-twist, because of which, tapioca starch is applied to help strengthen the yarn during the weaving process. After a few washes, the starch disappears from the textile making it soft and supple.
