Feature

Re-strategise, re-set, upskill, go compliant, build in agility and resilience—these should be the mantras for the footwear industry as it gears up in the next 89 days for the final dictum from the White House. And yeah, US+1 will work here too. And that could well be here’s looking at you India!

On a mission to use sustainable algae technologies to replace petroleum-derived products to launch carbon negative products, Living Ink is a biomaterials company that has developed Algae Black, a sustainable alternative to the black pigment used to make materials such as ink, plastics, leathers and rubber. texfash.com in conversation with the Co-Founders Scott Fulbright and Stevan Albers.

A start-up straddling two continents is spinning an all-new yarn from a 100% biodegradable and 100% recyclable, regenerative but sadly forgotten tree that since time immemorial has been growing unabashed in the wild.

Spectacles on the bridge of the nose, eyes crinkling whenever that malleable fine wire twists recalcitrant, 50-something Bhanu Das deftly crochets a loop, her fingers flying as she weaves a metallic string. Her husband, Jatindra Nath Das, the 65+ owner of a narrow, long and rectangular Barpetia jewellery-making workshop, mixes tiny pieces of silver with pounded wood-coal and fires it in a mud stove. Once the embers go cold, the ash will be blown away leaving behind wee balls. Four men on the...

This is the world’s first — a wine not from any vineyard but from tea gardens! And, the tea gardens of Assam. You read that right — Assam’s very own Alpana Saikia had been crafting this beverage in her kitchen for long and when she read a news item in 2017 that Jorhat’s Tocklai Tea Research Institute has proved that good wine can indeed be made from Assam's tea, retaining all its health benefits, passion and a new-found hobby merged to go for it as an entrepreneur. For this Nagaon girl, when...

Primal Soles, a Netherlands-based start-up, makes insoles from natural Mediterranean cork, claiming it to be the planet's first 100% circular, recyclable and sustainable shoe insole brand.

When aesthetics were coming at a price too dear, a techie-packaging pair of friends seized the gap in the market to launch a “reasonably priced” home fashion brand — Vaaree. A year on, it has had one seed round, and in the last few months the 50% month-on-month growth, brings hope for greater things in the future. A texfash.com exclusive.

A rainforest nut that falls off a huge palm tree provides an organic alternative to the ubiquitous button required by the fashion industry as a necessary accessory and at times even an embellishment. Ecuador-based Trafino SA is one of the largest enterprises in the business of exporting these ‘blanks’ made from the tagua nut. texfash.com talks to its Executive President Ignacio Maya to know more. 

The urge to gift an enduring piece of Punjab’s legacy, and the lack of it, led to the setting up of Aab Label, a contemporary brand that draws inspiration from the hand-embroidered heritage craft of phulkari. Founder Shreya Mehra shares her story.

An entrepreneur-driven industry, the apparel kidswear sector in India is forecast to grow at 14.5% CAGR during 2021–26. And making a play for it is a 100% boot-strapped mobile app-based B2B aggregator platform—KidCity—as it onboards retailers, manufacturers and some other critical cogs in this ecosystem. Could it emerge as a catalyst to change the status quo of the last five decades or more? Tech-enabled, will it work like a magic wand to resolve the inherent structural problems? texfash.com explores.