In an period marked by climatic urgency and a rising demand for sustainable alternate options, Bangladesh has launched a outstanding innovation within the textile trade: lotus silk, a uncommon, biodegradable and splendid cloth derived from the stems of the Asian lotus (Pronoun).
Produced in Bangladesh for the primary time, this product combines historical traditions with trendy environmental improvements, racing the way in which for important social and financial progress in rural communities.
For a very long time commemorated by its symbolic purity, the lotus plant now presents a sensible answer to one of the vital polluting industries on the earth: textiles. Historically elaborated in nations corresponding to Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, the lotus silk has been valued by its mushy, breathable and immune to wrinkle texture, just like a pure fusion of silk and linen.
In Bangladesh, the innovation of the lotus fiber was headed by the analysis and growth of Bengal vegetation (BPRD). The concept for the extraction of lotus fiber started in 2021, whereas BPRD carried out a analysis challenge on range, use and conservation of Lotus, with funds and help from the Bangladesh Nationwide Fee for UNESCO.
“This isn’t only a scientific innovation; it’s a cultural rebirth in Bangladesh,” Mongabay Sikdar Abul Kashem Shamsuddin, president of BPRD and the principle researcher of the challenge, advised Mongladesh. “Throughout generations, the lotus has been a part of our inheritance. Now additionally it is a part of our sustainable future.”
“The Loto petiole has an unbelievable pure effective filament that may be reworked into excessive worth fiber with a minimal intervention. It’s natural, it’s sturdy and, above all, it’s ours,” stated Rakha Hari Sarker, supernumerary professor within the division of Botany on the College of Dhaka.
“
It is not nearly textiles, it is about remodeling lives. Ladies who by no means imagined working in a world excessive -value trade are actually expert artisans of a premium cloth.
Sikdar Abul Kashem Shamsuddin, President, Bengala Crops Analysis and Improvement
A inexperienced course of rooted in custom
In contrast to typical materials manufacturing that relies upon largely on electrical energy, chemical dyes and water, lotus silk manufacturing in Bangladesh has a low affect on the atmosphere and is ecological.
It begins with the cautious harvest of lotus petioles of a number of wetlands distributed all through Bangladesh with out uprooting the vegetation, making certain ecological steadiness and regenerative progress.
“We reap the petioles with out damaging the plant. This permits new skinny leaves and petioles to develop, primarily in weeks,” Shamsuddin stated. “It’s a sustainable course of from starting to finish.”
The adhesive filaments contained in the stems, when uncovered to the air, kind skinny threads which might be wrapped by hand, dry naturally and wove in cloth utilizing conventional handbook looms.
This course of with out chemical substances doesn’t require water, fossil gas or any materials that contaminates the atmosphere, which makes it one of the vital sustainable and ecological textile choices presently obtainable.
As well as, extra plant matter can be biodegradable is commonly used as natural fertilizer or livestock meals, making a round financial system.
Relive the heritage, empower communities
Past its environmental advantages, Lotus Silk is revitalizing the inheritance of Bangladesh’s cloth whereas providing a brand new lifeguard to rural girls and artisans.
In villages like ronkoil in The Faridpur district, girls are being skilled within the manufacturing of lotus threads, which generates jobs for low -income households and promotes Financial empowerment of girls.
“It is not nearly textiles, it is about remodeling lives,” Shamsuddin stated. “Ladies who by no means imagined working in a excessive -value world trade are actually expert artisans of a premium cloth.”
The method requires meticulous handbook work and crafts, expertise that echo the wealthy historical past of Bangladesh in glorious textiles. As demand grows, lotus silk manufacturing might present sustainable employment in wetland areas and assist protect biodiversity in peril of extinction, since wetlands that home lotus vegetation stay instead of changing agriculture or trade.
“Bangladesh is a river nation with quite a lot of wetlands, corresponding to rivers, Beels, assault and Baóris. Amongst these wetlands, a number of enormous beel are discovered all through Bangladesh, the place lotus vegetation develop with out fail yearly. It’s required that these treasured wetlands be maintained accurately if we actually need to extract the lotus silk naturally, ”Shamsuddin stated.
World Loto Silk Demand
Internationally, lotus silk is already incomes consideration as an extremely premium and ecological cloth. In Italy, the posh vogue home Loro Piana has offered unique Loto cloth strains, together with jackets with a value of round US $ 5,600 (680,000 Takas), media reported.
In India, a textile manufacturing firm developed a line of “Nomark” lotus shirts utilizing hydrophobic nanotechnology for the resistance and sustainability of the spots.
In Cambodia, a model awarded by UNESCO, Samatoa, has proven how a small -scale firm and led by girls can convert lotus fiber into vogue objects worldwide and stays rooted in moral practices.
These success tales provide a plan for Bangladesh to construct their very own area of interest within the world luxurious market.
“Bangladesh has pure assets, the workforce and now information,” Shamsuddin stated. “We might be the next title in moral luxurious if we put money into the right techniques: analysis, sustainable harvest and inexperienced dye strategies, along with worldwide advertising to achieve aware shoppers who search a sustainable luxurious.”
With Lotus silk with a value of between US $ 2,500 (304,000 takas) to US $ four,000 (486,000 takas) per kilogram (US $ 1,134 (138,000 takas) to US $ 1,814 (220,400 takas) per pound), Bangladesh, with its humid and humid moist turn out to be a bigger participant.
The researchers of this lotus silk extraction course of indicated that the chemical composition of lotus silk is a particular kind of cellulose produced inside the petioles of lotus vegetation. They noticed that the buildup of this cellulose is determined by the depth of the water the place the plant is rising.
Shamsuddin talked about that the investigation might be carried out to enhance the standard and amount of cellulose of lotus petioles answerable for the lotus silk.
“On this case, trendy vegetation copy strategies might be utilized, such because the cultivation of plant and plant tissues, in addition to the biotechnology of vegetation for the advance of lotus fiber manufacturing,” he stated.
A imaginative and prescient for the long run
Because the world advances to environmentally accountable merchandise and moral origin, Lotus Silk symbolizes Bangladesh’s dedication to a greener and extra truthful future.
“With sufficient coverage, funding and consciousness, lotus silk generally is a flagship for sustainable innovation,” Shamsuddin stated. “It is not simply cloth, it is a nationwide alternative.”
Bangladesh has lengthy been a world chief in clothes prepared to make use of. Now, with Lotus Silk, he has the chance to steer the way forward for sustainable vogue.
This story was posted with permission from Mongabay.com.