ABOUT

An independent research and writing exploration into two indigenous cotton varieties from South India — Karunganni cotton and Jada Paruthi — and what traditional fibre systems might teach us about more resilient textile futures.

The project began with a simple question: Can local and indigenous fibre knowledge contribute to how we rethink textile materials today?

Approach

Rather than treating a fibre as inherently “sustainable,” the research considers the wider material system around it — agriculture, water, energy, processing, manufacturing, product longevity and end-of-life.

The exploration brings together textile knowledge, material thinking, sustainability and systems perspectives to examine how material choices might be understood within their broader ecological and social contexts.

Outcome

The research was developed into an independent article exploring whether native fibres can contribute to more resilient and context-specific approaches to textile sustainability.

The work is intentionally exploratory rather than a scientific claim, and is part of an ongoing investigation into materials, textiles, circularity and sustainable product systems.