After test marketing through a few stores, the Tamil Nadu government owned Co-optex will now introduce organic cotton saris, processed using Indigo dyes, across outlets in Coimbatore, Chennai, Pune, Madurai, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Co-optex launched organic cotton saris in February last year and has sold about 4,700 such saris till the last fiscal.

“These organic saris are woven in five major clusters like Dindigul, Vadambacherry, Paramakudi, Salem, and Kanchipuram, while the Indigo dyes are produced from the Indigofera Tinctoria plant, which give the fabric a rich blue shade,” managing director of Co-optex TN Venkatesh told the Hindu.

Co-optex will also soon expand the Indigo range to the home furnishing segment like curtains, bed sheets and pillow covers.

According to Venkatesh, manufacturing of organic cotton saris using natural dyes has proved to be remunerative to the weavers, due to which they will continue weaving cotton saris.

– Indian Apparel, Apparel Talk