Eco-brands for your child

Prince George and Prince Louis might be little royals who have to adhere to dress codes, but Kate Middleton is sticking to the age-old hand-me-down trend. As seen in recent official royal photographs and events, Prince Louis was spotted in shorts and cardigans that belonged to his older brother, getting people to think about recycling their own clothes.

Back in time

With growing awareness about living sustainably, many upmarket young parents are going back to how children were raised decades ago. Cotton, preferably organic, is the preferred fabric, as compared to a time when anything was acceptable as long as it looked happy and bright, never mind if was a frock made of synthetic organza or a shirt cut from a polyester-mix fabric. Hand-me-downs are no longer looked down upon, and the mood is to stick to something minimal instead of grand ensembles unsuited for tropical weather. Interestingly, kidswear manufacturers are now not just focussing on going organic, but are using far superior materials (think 200 GSM cotton) to ensure your child’s clothes last longer.

Take for instance Bengaluru-based Baby Atelier that makes bespoke bedding and bath linen in organic cotton for children aged 0-15 years. The range, priced between ₹300 and ₹3,000, also includes nightwear. As a policy, the brand shuns finishing processes that use chemicals and prefers monocolours so that the manufacturing is not harmful to the environment. Founder Payal Karumbiah feels it’s important to look at the future footprint too, which is why she prefers mix-and-match in her lines. “There’s less boredom when you don’t match everything.”

While the organic textile movement has picked up across sectors, for Parin Jain, co-founder of Berrytree, it is still nascent in India. “We are restricted to Tier I and II cities such as Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, and to an extent Chennai. Most organic cotton comes from Tamil Nadu, which is probably why there’s no novelty factor there. It’s like trying to sell a leather bag in Kanpur!” says Jain.

What his Delhi-based brand does is find opportunities to create knowledge about organic cotton, educate about its benefits and fill the gap. Berrytree has also placed itself in a category where “clothes move from elder sibling to the younger, between cousins… Our 200 GSM organic cotton has more longevity, it does not stretch or tear easily. So, we develop designs that are gender-neutral. For instance, cartoon characters do well in kids’ wear, but we might use one that has lasted the course and triggers nostalgia rather than the latest fancy,” says Jain, who began his organic journey dealing with imported organic baby food products.

But will durability not affect sales? “I would like people to buy something from us because they want to buy it and genuinely like the product, not because something they bought recently tore,” he says.

Most manufacturers use organically-permitted and AZO-free dyes, but some use natural pigments to colour the garments. The patterns are also not specific to India. Jain, for instance, sticks to non-Indian prints for regular wear, but wants to go desi when he launches his ethnic wear collection by the end of the year. He extends the theme of sustainability while packing too. “Garments are stocked in lots of 20, so we use only one bag. Orders are wrapped in paper before going into the courier cover.”

Jaipur-based Soma, known for its use of Indian prints, has had an organic cotton line for children for five years now. The patterns and prints are changed every few months, and for 2019 Summer, there’s an abundance of pistachio, pale blue, pink and banana yellow. “We mostly make frocks, bibs and diapers, and vary the style,” says managing director Radha Nair.

For Karumbiah, the focus is on creating products that are high on utility, ease of use and design. Baby Atelier opts for timeless prints and designs that are not too complicated. Most importantly, they stop with dual colour patterns. “Indian motifs need multi-colour, which means more processes, more water,” she says.

Soma is among the few brands that promote Indian motifs in baby wear as well. “As a company, we try and project Indian craft and make things that find contemporary use too. Irrespective of where you live, usage is universal. For babies, the market was all about use-and-throw and we wanted to change it. We looked at making things that could be reused multiple times, across users,” says Nair, adding that they go for a muted colour scheme in cotton because “it is very difficult for the fabric to retain that intensity of colour. We tone down everything and put the cloth through several washes. The colour is literally stamped onto the fibre, unlike the common rotary or screen print, and we use certified, skin-friendly dyes.”

One issue that most of these manufacturers have to take a call on is scaling up, which invariably results in dilution of the core philosophy. “This is one reason we don’t expand mindlessly. You have to stay focussed and not let down the customer,” says Nair. Jain agrees. “At a certain level, when you mass produce, you lose the true essence of the brand. Else, I will be selling a product with a wide range that just happens to be organic.” He believes that organic clothes are an emerging market also because new-age parents are more mindful about certain choices. “They choose to raise their children in a particular philosophy,” says Jain.