our partners
For the steps in the production process that Jyoti cannot take on itself, we have been working with small family businesses, artisans, NGOs or inspiring social enterprises in various regions of India for many years. This allows us to promote traditional handicrafts and ensure that our work has a positive impact.
Weaving
truetone
TRUETONE has been a long-standing partner and is undoubtedly one of India’s “sustainability pioneers”.
The GOTS-certified company works exclusively with organic cotton and has made a significant contribution to the development of natural dyeing processes. Only natural dyes, such as those obtained from marigolds, onions or pomegranates, are used for dyeing. These have no negative effect on the environment or health and the water used for dyeing can be safely reused to water plants.
Some of the beautiful block print fabrics we have used in the past were also made there using traditional techniques.
Moral Fibre
MORAL FIBRE is a social enterprise that works with weavers in the greater Ahmedabad area in northwest India. The company is committed to ecological and social sustainability and by working with various cooperatives they enable the producers, who are often threatened by poverty, to earn a living with the traditional weaving craft.
Moral Fibre has received several national Indian awards for its efforts and is very active in fair trade and sustainability events.
We mainly source our beautiful slub shirt fabrics from you, in which hand-spun yarns with many small irregularities are processed, resulting in a unique structure.
VANKAR KANTILAL SAMAT
In Sarli, near Bhuj in the Kutch region, we have been working with the weaver KANTI and his family since 2015. As is common in the region, many weaving families in the village have joined forces with him to produce fabrics.
The traditional way of working and the family atmosphere, as well as their beautiful fabrics, absolutely convinced us. KANTIS fabrics are still made of conventional cotton, but we are constantly working on increasing our production so that the minimum order quantities for certified yarn will hopefully soon be achievable. Originally, however, the weavers in the Kutch region worked much more with sheep's wool than with cotton. In the past, every weaver had a direct connection to a Rabari family, who traditionally bred sheep and goats and provided their wool for textile production.
Vankar Kantilal Samat │ PO Sarli │ Bhuj – Kutch │ Gujarat
7Weaves
We have been working with 7WEAVES since the summer of 2017. We purchase fabrics from them made from so-called Peace Silk. The special thing about this silk is that it is obtained without harming the silkworms and their natural habitat.
In contrast to conventional silk production, in which the pupated larvae are thrown into boiling water with their cocoons and killed, the animals leave their cocoons naturally as butterflies before they are processed into silk. In the villages around Guwahati (Assam), non-violent silk production has a long tradition. The silk thread is spun by hand from the abandoned cocoons, dyed with natural materials such as the leaves of the Mehndi bush, pomegranate or turmeric, and then woven on a handloom. The process, which consists entirely of manual work, and the special type of silk "Eri" are responsible for the unique, atypical structure of the fabrics.
7WEAVES SOCIAL │ 6 Dr.B.K.Kakoty Road │ Ulubari │ Guwahati │ Assam
Translate
TRANSLATE is a small Indian fashion label based in Hyderabad that is committed to supporting local Ikat artisans. Their mission is to revive traditional craftsmanship. Ikat is a weaving technique in which the yarn is dyed in sections before being processed into fabrics. Later during weaving The regular arrangement of these dyed areas creates geometric patterns across the entire fabric, which show how much talent - and mathematics - is behind it. Ikat fabrics are produced under different names all over the world, for example as "Kasuri" in Japan for expensive kimonos, but also in Africa or Latin America.
Translate was founded in 2010 by Vinita and Vikas Passary and actually the two produce their own clothes and accessories. We were immediately impressed by their patterned and wonderfully soft fabrics, which the Translate weaver team now also produces for us.
Store Anonymous │ Road No. 92 │ Jubilee Hills │ Hyderabad │ Telangana
Herbal Fab
HERBAL FAB, founded by brothers Prashant and Kunal in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is a GOTS certified company. They produce unique fabrics made from organic cotton, modal and tencel with the aim of creating a more sustainable world.
To support small start-ups and social enterprises, they offer small-scale production and hope to bring about long-term change in the fashion industry.
In addition to high social and ecological standards in production, they lead education and health projects in their region. They also invest in innovative approaches to water treatment and reuse.
Charkhandloom
CHARKHANDLOOM is a social enterprise based in Bangalore that specializes in handwoven fabrics made from recycled yarns. The company also works with GOTS certified cotton and produces a wide range of different fabric types and qualities.
Charkhandloom's principle is to combine traditional techniques with modern sustainability demands, i.e. respectful treatment of artisans and the environment, protection of traditional art and use of recycled materials.
Charkhandloom │ 2/123-2A Chettiyar Thottam │ Tiruchengodu │ Nammakkal │ Tamilnadu
Symphony
SYMPHONY is a multi-certified producer (including GOTS) on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Symphony is currently one of our largest partners and a pioneer in the field of sustainable innovations. The company is particularly well-known and valued for its high-quality hemp and corduroy fabrics. The latter have been produced there for generations and are a pioneer in India.
In addition to the actual production with innovative, resource-saving processes, the company takes its social responsibility very seriously. Symphony implements environmental management practices and invests in the development of green belts. In addition to above-average wages, they offer their employees free education and medical care for their families.
Gocoop
GOCOOP is an online marketplace for Indian artisans, especially weavers. The aim is to support traditional artisans in marketing their products. Through trade fairs, international contacts and online presence, GoCoop aims to secure the livelihoods of around 10 million people in India.
Through GoCoop we came into contact with the weavers of Jamdani fabrics from West Bengal. This traditional weaving technique, known for its fine appliqués, originally with gold threads, is now often implemented with 100% cotton - as is the case in our collection.
FAIRKONNECT
FAIRKONNECT is a fair trade certified social enterprise in Bangalore, founded by Rema Sivaram and Pradeep Krishappa. Their aim is to build a bridge between fair trade and Indian women artisans. They represent women artisans from all over India to showcase the diversity of weaving techniques of the subcontinent.
Fairkonnect relies exclusively on socially and ecologically sustainable fabrics that are hand-woven from natural fibers. We met Rema and Pradeep at the "International Fair Trade Summit 2022" in Berlin and are impressed by their know-how and philosophy.
PRINTING
Bagru Textiles
BAGRU TEXTILES is a block printing company based in Bagru, a small suburb of Jaipur in northern India. If you walk through the residential areas there, you will see huge patterned fabrics hanging on almost every flat roof, drying in the sun. Many Chhippa families (printers) live here, who traditionally dye and print fabrics. First, delicate patterns are carved into wooden blocks using special iron tools. These blocks - some the size of a finger up to wooden plates the size of a plate - are then used to print long fabrics with impressive precision and without gaps.
BAGRU TEXTILES works with many of the local residents, who mostly do their work from home. The company places value on fair wages and invests part of its profits in social health and education programs.
Chhipon Ka Mohalla │ Laxminarayan Krishi Farm │ Bagru │ Rajasthan
Sedhantik
SEDHANTIK is a small label from Punjab, founded by designer Sidhant Minocha. His vision is to promote local craftsmanship through sustainable textile production and to have a positive impact on the environment - in contrast to the conventional textile industry.
Sidhant conducts workshops for rural artisans to combine traditional skills with modern design. Sedhantik mainly offers home decor products as well as printed and embroidered fabrics.
At Jyoti, we have found a new partner for block and screen printing in Sedhantik. Our collaboration began with a collection featuring designs by Monika Morito, which Sidhant played a key role in bringing to life.
KNITTING & CROCHETING
JUNGLE FOLK
JUNGLE FOLK is a Swiss fair fashion label that produces in direct contact with manufacturers in Peru and Portugal and wants to bring about sustainable change in the textile industry through its work. With Jungle Folk, we launched our first cooperative capsule collection in 2020 and since then, their producers in Peru have been knitting beautifully soft alpaca wool products for us.
Diamanta
Our shared story with DIAMANTA begins with SOLID CRAFTS - a Belgian NGO that offers women in Peru, India and Kenya fair jobs and training opportunities. We worked with the Indian branch of the organization years ago and now also support their work in Peru, where cozy products are made from alpaca wool .
The fair trade-certified workshop in Ayacucho promotes traditional knitting and crocheting skills among local women. Solid offers them professional know-how and fair pay. The organization now provides 200 women with orders and connects them with customers worldwide. The profits go to an initiative to support young women in difficult life situations, especially teenage mothers.
MEESU CRAFTS
MEESU CRAFTS is an Indian design label and a community of knitters and crocheters in Bihar, northern India, founded during the Corona epidemic. The founding team was looking for job alternatives for women who had lost their jobs during the crisis and were therefore no longer able to support their families financially. Since knitting and crocheting are common skills among women in rural areas of India, the idea of Meesu was quickly born.
Cuts and colors are developed by a design team that maintains high ethical and environmental standards, using a variety of materials, from organic cotton to merino, cashmere and mohair wool. Meesu produces a variety of products such as garments, bags, hats and blankets. We started working with them in 2022 and created our own collaborative design for a crochet top.
L.Paulet
L.Paulet is a small, friendly company from Peru, run by the mother-daughter team Beatriz and Carolina. They combine traditional craftsmanship with modern techniques to produce high-quality textiles from alpaca wool. They attach great importance to sustainability, use environmentally friendly, local materials and offer their employees an environment in accordance with Fairtrade criteria.
JEWELRY
PERELIN & SOMNATH
PERELIN is a small Berlin-based jewelry and textile label that, like us, places value on transparency in production. Through their contacts in the Himalayas, they introduced us to SOMNATH and the Mahwani family in Pushkar, Rajasthan. Rajasthan has been famous for its jewelry production for centuries, with brass increasingly being used alongside precious metals.
The Mahwani family, who have been making jewelry for three generations, create unique pieces for us. Thanks to your demand, they now regularly make jewelry in our Jyoti designs. These are usually simpler than traditional Rajasthani jewelry, but if you look closely you can see the influence of the playful local patterns. The jewelry from Pushkar has become an integral part of our collections.