Faborg manufactures vegan wool from plants | Fusion - WeRIndia

Apart from meat, sheep are reared for wool. But, many animal activists and other people do not like the process of hurting sheep for wool. In this context, there is a need for alternative wool. There comes the vegan wool.

Gowri Shankar from Auroville, Tamil Nadu invented vegan wool from Calotropis plants. He researched on plant fibre out of curiosity and identified the plant that has the potential to generate wool.

The idea came to his mind when he saw a few birds making a nest using the fibre of this plant. Then he wanted to use this natural fibre into a textile.

Calotropis is a wild flowering shrub found in dryland areas. It is commonly known as milkweed.

It is a naturally grown shrub in dry and harsh conditions. No human intervention is essential for this plant. It neither needs water nor fertilizers.

Calotropis yields durable fibre. It is used to make carpets, fishing nets, ropes, and sewing threads.

He worked on designing vegan wool from the plant for more than five months and made fibres.

These light cellulose fibre shrubs are made from different species of Calotropis plants. These plants are widely used in Ayurveda.

Gowri Shankar made the wool from 70% organic cotton and 30% from a Calotropis plant. He employed many rural women to produce the wool by hand in Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu.

This 34-year-old founded Faborg. The company makes vegan wool from Calotropis.

It launched an alternative for wool fabrics, called ‘Weganool. It manufactures nearly 150 kgs of yarn per month to be used by various textile brands.

The entire wool process in this fibre is sustainable. The company uses natural colours for dyeing. These fabrics look like cashmere.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Credit: Ozy Website Screenshot

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1165374, https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/gowri-shankar-weganool-vegan-wool-fashion/369028/