ethical

Soap nuts: the lowdown

Krishna — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 10:39:40 +0000

Soap nuts – what in the blazes are they? Here’s the lowdown. They’re the pretty amazing fruit of the Sapindus Mukorossi tree, which is part of the lychee family. Why are these berries so awesome? They are a totally natural, chemical-free, completely biodegradable way to wash your clothes! And we highly recommend washing your Ayurvastra Avani towels with them to preserve the life of the medicinal plant infusions in the organic cotton towels. Soap nuts are actually berries that contain a natural detergent called saponin which is extracted when agitated or heated in hot water, creating soap-like suds. Since they are completely natural and highly sustainable, they are kind to the skin and to the planet. We’re giving away soap nut samples with every sale of our Avani collection of Ayurvastra towels. Find out more about them by checking out this post at 1 Million Women for the pros and cons about soap nuts and this five-minute video for how useful soap nuts can be.

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Our new range of blankets are here!

Krishna — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 12:11:22 +0000

Great news – our new range of blankets are here! And just in time for the warmer weather. Our Love Shack Surf Club range of blankets was conceived by us and ethically created by talented artisans in Rajasthan. Made from three layers of organic cotton, these dohar-style blankets are block-printed by hand, and we couldn’t be happier with how they’ve turned out. They’re available in our online store now and at the ethical retail hub The Green Street Collective. After some helpful customer feedback, we’ve got two sizes this time: 210cm x 210cm (queen size) and our original 150cm x 200cm. Both are perfect for the bedroom, beach, picnicking – however you choose to use it. Our Love Shack Surf Club blankets will keep on giving year-round: they’re perfect over those hot summer nights when you just need breathable cover without too much warmth, and from autumn to winter for extra warmth. We’re partial to a bonfire, summer or winter, and our Love Shack Surf Club blankets are perfect for wrapping up with the ones you love and watching the flames as the sun comes up. In earthy tones of mustard and khaki, marine shades of blue and white, contrasting grey and red, and summery shades of watermelon with beautiful boho style, our Love Shack Surf Club blankets will saturate your world with colour and pattern. Join the club!

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Join the Fashion Revolution

Krishna — Sat, 21 Apr 2018 09:37:36 +0000

April 24, 2018 marks the fifth anniversary of one of the largest industrial disasters in human history. The collapse of the Rana Plaza complex in Bangladesh, where factory workers were crammed into structurally unsafe buildings to manufacture garments for some of the world’s biggest fashion brands, claimed 1138 lives and injured more than 2500 factory workers. The victims were mainly young women. It was the wake-up call that we shouldn’t have needed, but it became the long-overdue catalyst for a revolution. Fashion Revolution Week begins April 23 and has in the five years since its inception by UK fashion designers, Carry Somers and Orsola de Castro, become the largest fashion activism movement in the world. Fashion Revolution Day, April 24, will commemorate the day of the heartbreaking disaster, but globally, for the whole week we are urged to ask, “who makes my clothes?”. Transparency is the first step towards change and since Fashion Revolution began, a real revolution is gaining rapid momentum. We are all consumers of fashion. Like food and shelter it’s a necessity. We are also custodians of this planet. Make Fashion Revolution Week your springboard to greater awareness about how, what, where and by who the clothes you wear are made. Check out Fashion Revolution and learn more about the #whomademyclothes campaign that runs over the week. Be part of the change for fashion that values the safety of people, the planet and profits all equally and fairly.

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Our story – Part Two

Krishna — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 11:24:12 +0000

Kalai is a brand driven by the need for social and environmental change. One of our foundation stones was laid in Cuba in 2011 when we became startlingly aware of the global need to save our oceans from widespread pollution. You can read that blog – Our Story – Part One – here and watch the movie we made documenting our journey. The second foundation stone of Kalai is my mother’s legacy. She was tirelessly selfless in all aspects of her life, a woman determined to better the lives of others. My name is Krishna and together with my partner Blair and our son Kahali, we are Kalai. I was born in south India and grew up in London. At the start of the 70s, my parents left behind the security of family and all that they knew to seek better opportunities in a city that was socially, culturally, economically and even geographically so far away from anything they had ever known. Just as many immigrants did in those days, my father worked day and night to establish some roots for my brother and I. My mother, a scientist, who studied marine biology, did whatever she could to make ours a happy home life. She wore every hat from microbiologist to teacher and checkout lady at the local ASDA store to ensure our future was safe. A speaker of seven languages, later in life, she was an advocate and interpreter for Asian refugees, travelling to courtrooms and hospital wards all over the city to translate for those who were struggling to find their place in a strange land, just as she once did. To me she embodied all that it is to be a goddess – beauty, strength, nurturing, selflessness, kindness. She had a motto that she lived by: “never do harm by word or deed” – and that simple message resonates with me always. On visiting India again for the first time at the age of seven I was a fully-fledged Londoner. I witnessed such confusing and confronting contrasts: poverty and enterprise; starvation and resourcefulness; the haves and the have-nots. I didn’t understand any of it, but it’s everything my mother knew all about and she did whatever she could to ease suffering, whether financially or, on any given evening, simply by taking the uneaten food cooked at home and dishing it out to those on the streets who were starving. India, to me now is a sea of beautiful faces, an ocean of kind hearts, a deep well of rich culture, and ancient and valuable skills that should be preserved and practised, yet its people still struggle. Kalai is now my chance to give back, to humanity, to the environment… to my mother. Kalai not only employs the artisan skills of women in the southern Indian state of Kerala, a region on the shore of the Arabian Sea, our products will also be produced out of a centre run by the Kansas/Indian-based non-profit organisation Lions in Four Foundation, using natural dyes, organic textiles and unique processes. It is our mutual purpose to empower women to help end the cycle poverty. We have set out to contribute to sustainability and promote ethical manufacturing, which means the women at the centre are educated in textile skills, they are paid a fair and livable wage and are treated respectfully. With these skills, the women will have the power to give their children a future that includes an education, and later jobs that will value them, as any human being has the right to expect.

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