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Khadi

  All Khadi is hand woven, but not all hand woven is Khadi. Khadi is hand woven using a yarn that has been hand spun on a chakha. No machinery is used to make either the yarn or the fabric. Khadi production has little or no carbon footprint because of this method. While Khadi is usually manufactured from cotton, contrary to popular belief it is also made from silk and woolen yarn (called Khadi silk and Khadi wool respectively). This eco-friendly fabric is known for its texture, comfortable feel and ability to keep people warm in the winter as well as cool in summer. During the pre-independence era in India the movement of Khadi manufacturing gained momentum under the guidance of Mahatma...

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Inspiring India

  From Kathy, Founder and General Manager of Sabahar: In December, 2017, I had the great opportunity to travel to India with 4 of my colleagues from Sabahar. Shiferaw, our production manager, has travelled there a couple years ago, but for Yeshiwa (finishing supervisor), Degu (weaving supervisor) and Ermias (master weaver) it was the first time. We had a busy schedule, starting as the invited guests at the Loin Loom Festival in Nagaland, NE India. About 60 weavers (only women weave here) brought their looms and participated in the 3-day festival. The festival was established in order to keep alive the traditional weaving practice and designs of loin loom (back strap) weaving. Nagaland is famous for their highly symbolic woven designs...

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News from our Ethiopian Supplier

According to the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar,  the birth of Jesus is celebrated on January 6. This is an important religious event when believers go to church and have feasts at home with family and friends.  Timket (celebrating both the Epiphany when the Wise Men visited baby Jesus and the baptism of Jesus), is a much more public, festive Ethiopian holiday. It is celebrated on the eve of the 18th of January and continues on the 19th of January. Some Churches also celebrate on the 20th.  Around areas with Orthodox churches, streets are bedazzled with green, yellow and red streamers, lights and flags. On the afternoon of the 18th, priests ceremoniously walk the Tabots from their church to a common area...

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Pashmina or Cashmere?

The terms “pashmina” and “cashmere” are in common use today, and are applied to a wide variety of textiles. Of particular concern is the fact that “pashmina” has become a generic term for any scarf or shawl, ranging from cheap viscose scarves available in tourist shops to some of the most prized and sought after textiles in the world. Pashmina first got its name from Persian travellers and traders passing through the Kashmir region. The Persian word “pashm” means wool. The anglicised term ‘cashmere’ derives from the name Kashmir.  Genuine pashmina originally came from the high altitudes - up to 15000 metres - of Laddakh (Leh in India and Tibet). The fibre was hand sheared from the underbelly of the...

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