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JUTE- the golden fiber.
Take a look at the side bar pictures; earth friendly shopping bags, lovely & functional organic totes, travel bags and trade show totes are all made of natural and environmentally friendly jute fabric. Jute is a natural fiber with golden and silky shine and often called the “golden fiber” of Bengal. It is the cheapest vegetable fiber produced from the baste or skin of the plant's stem and the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability. With all the stylish and functional veraities of jute beach bags, jute travel bags, reusable shopping bags and personalized trade show totes available in jute, organic cotton and recycled cotton, it is sad that mankind continues to use plastic bags. Plastic bags may be conveniently available for free at stores but reality is that consumer pay the price as cost adders to merchandise and the environment pays even a bigger price for the plastic bags. Unlike our organic cotton fabric product, Jute products are coarse to the touch. However, it has the same high tensile strength and ensures better breath ability just like bamboo fabric. And, yes this is an eco-friendly, green fabric that is 100% biodegradable like bamboo, hemp and organic cotton fabrics and fiber has multiple uses like the hemp fiber.
Jute is a rainy season crop, sown from March to May according to rainfall and type of land. It is harvested from June to September depending upon whether the sowing was early or late. Jute requires a warm and humid climate with temperature between 24° C to 37° C. Jute is harvested any time between 120 days to 150 days when the flowers have been shed, early harvesting gives good healthy fibers. The plants grow from 8 to 12 feet high and are cut closer to the ground level. The harvested plants are left in field for 3 days for the leaves to shed. The stems are then made up into bundles for steeping in water. Next to “steeping” comes the “retting” process. Retting is a process in which the tied bundles of jute stalks are taken to the water tanks by which fibers get loosened and separated from the woody stalk. The retting process is completed in 8 to 30 days, when the barks separate out easily from the stick or wood and the fibers are ready for extraction. Fibers are removed from the stalk manually by several different methods. Some methods require washing the stalks first by standing in waist deep water and then stripping afterwords. However, at the final stage, extracted fibers are always washed in clean water and then hung on bamboo railing for sun drying for 2-3 days. Thereafter, fibers are used to manufacture different grades of fabrics used in making "burlap" bags, "gunny sacks", shopping bags, totes, decorative wall hangings, beach bags, yoga mats and even shoes and sandals.
History of Jute:
Jute has been used since ancient times in Africa and Asia to provide cordage and weaving fiber from the stem and food from the leaves. A small, piece of jute paper with Chinese characters written on it has been discovered in northwest China and believed to have been produced during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC--220 AD). Historians have documented that during the era of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542 –1605), poor villagers of India used to wear clothes made of jute. Simple hand looms and hand spinning wheels were used by the weavers, who used to spin cotton yarns as well. History also states that Indians, especially Bengalis, used ropes and twines made of white jute from ancient times for household and other uses. Jute is a natural fiber with golden and silky shine and often called the “golden fiber” of Bengal. It is the cheapest vegetable fiber procured from the baste or skin of the plant's stem and the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton, in terms of usage, global consumption, production, and availability. It has high tensile strength, low extensibility, and ensures better breath ability of fabrics.
After the fall of Mughal dynasty, British Empire delegated the trade authority to East India Company that became the first Jute trader. The company traded mainly in raw jute during the 19th century and eventually Dundee mill owners set up the first jute mills in India. The Entrepreneurs of the Dundee Jute Industry in Scotland were called The Jute Barons. Many more mills opened up in Calcutta (Kolkata) that had an abundance of raw material coming from the adjacent jute growing areas in Bengal. There was a good supply of low cost labor, plenty of coal to generate power, and on top of all that Calcutta port was best suited for shipping to world markets. Today, Kolkata is one of the main supplier of the jute string bags, organic cotton shopping bags, recycled cotton grocery bags and imprinted promotional bags, all made from jute and organic cotton are the ideal products for green living and best suited for the environment.
The earliest goods woven of jute in India were coarse packaging materials, farmer market bags, grocery bags, shopping bags and floor mats, ropes and twines. With more experience, however, finer fabrics called burlap and hessian were produced. The natural advantage these mills enjoyed soon gave Calcutta world leadership in burlap and bagging materials and the mills in Dundee and other countries turned to specialties, a great variety of which were developed. Jute industry in India enjoyed even more remarkable expansion, rising to commanding leadership by 1939 and supplying the world demand. Interestingly, Jute was popular for being a cheaper multipurpose material and not as the natural eco friendly material. Jute did not make its mark as an environmentally friendly fabric until in the 1960s. After the fall of British Empire in India during 1947, most of the Jute Barons started to evacuate India, leaving behind the industrial setup of the Jute Industry to Pakistani mill owners which were eventually taken over by the government of Bangladesh. Today, Bangladesh and India are the major producers of Jute products while China, Thailand and some African nations are entering the competition but with relatively very smaller share of the jute market.
Today, nearly 75% of Jute goods are used as packaging materials; Burlap (Hessian)Bags , Gunny sacks and Eco friendly shopping bags & environmentally friendly trade show totes. Carpet Backing Cloth, the third major Jute product, is fast growing in importance as a green product. Currently, it consists of roughly 15% of the world’s Jute goods consumption and steadily gaining foothold as the sustainable material favored by eco-conscious consumers. The remaining Jute products are carpet yarn, cordage, felts, padding, twine, ropes, decorative fabrics, and miscellaneous items for industrial use. Jute has entered the non-woven industry as it is one of the most cost effective high tensile vegetable fibers. Therefore, the demand for Jute has made its way into the automotive industry. Jute is now being used to manufacture more eco-friendly interiors for cars and automobiles. Jute is one of the strongest natural fibers that is harvested without depleting the water resources or causing any soil erosion like conventional cotton crop. The long staple fiber has high tensile strength and low extensibility. Its luster determines quality; the more it shines, the better the quality. It also has some heat and fire resistance and is 100% biodegradable.
We could go on quoting from more sources and help you learn about the difference between organically grown Jute and its properties but there is a wealth of information available on-line that you can look upand find out the facts about Jute for yourself.We believe you can now make an informed decision about the benefits of earth friendly jute products. We carry a large selection of jute products such as beach bags, lunch bags, market bags and travel totes. We can decorate your beach bags and library bags with silk screening as well as monogramming your name or initials in fine embroidery. Additionally, we also carry a selection organic cotton shopping bags, recycled cotton bags and hemp bags that you can use in support of ridding this planet from the damaging effects of plastic bags.Thank you for reading this far and hopefully you can join us in making the difference by purchasing 100% organic cotton clothing , bamboo clothing or hemp clothing for your comfort, life style and a sustainable future of the planet earth.
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