What is Jiwya’s soil-to-soil ecosystem?
If the global fashion industry is considered a country, it will be the seventh largest economy of the world. Sit with this sentence for a second to understand its scale.
Now that you have digested it, think about how complex a fashion supply chain could be? The current fashion supply chain starts at some farm or petroleum mill and ends in landfill. A linear, non-sustainable model.
In a conventional fashion supply chain, it starts from fibres, yarns, pre-processing of yarns, fabric making, dyeing, finishing, quality check, pattern making, cutting, sewing, embellishment, labeling, quality check, packaging and ends at transportation. These are 15 steps. Each of these steps have multiple sub-steps and can happen at varied locations. A typical garment goes through a minimum 15 hands before reaching you. One in every eight people in the global workforce is working in the fashion industry.
Remember the famous cerulean sweater monologue by the character Miranda Priestly in the movie Devil Wear Prada, on how fashion affects us all, whether we like it or not.
This is what also makes it utterly complicated to ensure sustainability and accountability across sectors in the fashion industry. This is also the question we started with when building Jiwya. After months of research we created Jiwya, and what we call- a soil-to-soil ecosystem of fashion, a bio-circular fashion economy.
What is Jiwya’s soil-to-soil ecosystem?
First and foremost, we wanted to simplify the complex nature of a typical fashion supply chain to ensure accountability at each step. That meant rethinking and restructuring at every step. Where is the material coming from? Who is making it? How much energy does it consume? What about transportation? Where does the material end up after its lifetime?
We asked these questions for everything from fibre, to yarn, dyes to finishes, fabric to buttons, stitching thread to packaging. The answer is Jiwya’s soil-to-soil ecosystem, where you don’t have to worry about these steps because we did.
Allow me to simplify these for you in 3 small sections.
Regenerative Materials
At Jiwya, we follow a simple formula. Every material we use comes from the soil. Fibres that make the yarns and fabric, colours, finishes, threads, buttons, packaging- all come from plants. Thus simplifying the source. Fixing the source of our materials allows us to care for the source and the makers. We work with farmers, indigenous communities, and small local businesses who follow holistic practices that conserve the soil health to get these raw materials. The beauty of these materials is, after a lifetime of use, they can be easily comforted or can even biodegrade naturally, thus returning to the soil while nourishing it.
Hyperlocal Economy
While materials make a big part of any apparel, so do the people who make it. We only buy raw materials made in India. Be it the 100+ grassroots textile art clusters that we work with, or smaller businesses that make our stitching threads and buttons. Every person we work with is located in India, and we personally know them, having met each of them through our travels across India. We call it our hyperlocal economy. Bringing in the magic of the human hand, the essence of crafts and local elements to not only infuse beauty and character into each Jiwya piece but also preservation of indigenous culture.
Zero-waste Processing
The last piece of the puzzle for us was managing the materials during processing. It starts with our proprietary technology for dyeing that requires 1/10 water of conventional chemical processing. The leftover water is fed to our own garden soil, since plant-ingredients from the water only nourish the soil. During pattern-making, cutting, stitching, we collect and segregate each little scrap from our production. These are then creatively upcycled to embellish our own garments and decor. Thus ensuring zero-waste processing.
Veda Mandala Tapestry by Jiwya-made with vibrant and zero-waste upcycled elements
A tl;dr version: Jiwya means caring for each life and soul on this planet. It is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘jeev’ meaning life and soul. It means caring for the planet, people and animals. We feel this is the bare minimum we can do, the bare minimum that fashion can do.
Our soil-to-soil ecosystem is designed to be bio-circular in nature. Coming from and ending with soil. This simple video explains our ethos in a minute.
So next time you are buying clothes, pause for a moment and think:
1. How many hands did the piece of fashion go through? Were they all paid?
2. Where did the material come from?
3. Where will the garment end-up eventually?
I’ll let you be the judge of the above answers, after all it’s your money to spend. As for me, I vote with my money. So when I choose a product good for my body and the planet, I am voting for people who care for people’s and planet’s health. With Jiwya, we are building an ecosystem where you can invest in a piece of fashion that resonates with your values, while we ensure it is the safest and the cleanest thing you will put next to your skin.
