Organic Fabric, Hemp Fabric collection: Folksmarket.com

In the world of Cotton, Silk, Linen, the Hemp fabric are generally takes a backseat for the average fabric users. Though historically the Hemp Fabric are one of the most important organic fabric that finds its use not only in Fabric and jewelry but also in automobiles, papers, currency and many industrial sector. This piece of the write up is aimed at making readers, users acquainted with such a fantastic fibre

Geographical Indication registration process in India: Folksmarket.com

India is a vast country with immensely rich traditions. It is innate to the soul of India that its folks have been utilizing the Earth to make life of fellow folks useful. In the process, Indians have truly developed their skill so much that it had taken a form of a full-fledged industry which was appreciated by the world over. 

However with the modernization knocking the door and traditional way of production start replacing by the machine, the life of millions of such folks reached to a cross-road.

The human hands can’t match the pace of the machine.

At the same time, this tradition remained their identity for centuries, how can they just let it go?

Then came the realization of the limitation of the machine and its monotonous effect, not to talk of the environmental deterioration. The people at different corner of the world once again found themselves appreciating the folks skill and folks traditions. But then the dark side of the human greediness came. People knowing well the appreciation of the different crafts start selling their own lower grade products under the disguise. This is the precise reason why many times the sale of Darjeeling Tea registered more than its actual production.

This spoofing is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it snatched the ethical right of the people of different geography from their right of livelihood and on the other hand, it also brings a sense of the disappointment among its connoisseurs for their inability to appreciate the original product as they have experienced the spoofed product.

The Uruguay round of WTO was the harbinger of bringing a mechanism world over to prevent such anomaly in the market. 

For the sake of our readers, organization, we are trying to simplifythe registration process of Indian GI Act.

 As per TRIPS Agreement 1994, “Geographical indications are, for the purposes of this Agreement, indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin”

The GI Act contains a system of registration. Registration is prima facie evidence of validity. While the initial registration is for a period of ten years, it may subsequently be renewed. A GI may be registered under more than one class of goods.

Commensurate with the TRIPS Agreement, the Government of India has drafted their own GI Act: The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act (GI Act), 2003

How Geographical Indications product are registered in India

(This section owe a lot to a paper published by Mr Kasturi, Fellow, Center for WTO titled 'Social Economic Impication of GI' )

Section 11(2) of the GI Act specifies the documentation requirements for applying for a GI in India. Section 32(1) of the GI Rules replicates these provisions and in addition stipulates a few more documentation requirements that include, among other things, the following:

• A statement as to how the GI serves to designate the goods as originating from the concerned geographical territory in respect of specific quality, reputation or other characteristics that are due exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment, with its inherent natural and human factors; and the production, processing or preparation of which takes place in such geographical location;

• The geographical map of the territory concerned;

• The particulars regarding the appearance of the GI as to whether it is comprised of the words or figurative elements or both;

• An affidavit as to how the applicant claims to represent the interest of the association of persons or producers or any organization or authority established by or under any law;

• The standards benchmark for the use of the GI or the industry standard as regards the production, exploitation, making or manufacture of the goods having specific quality, reputation, or other characteristic of such goods that is essentially attributable to its geographical origin with the detailed description of the human creativity involved, if any, or other characteristic from the definite geographical territory;

• The particulars of the mechanism to ensure that the standards, quality, integrity and consistency or other special characteristic in respect of the goods to which the GI relates, which are maintained by the producers, makers or manufacturers of the goods, as the case may be;

• The particulars of special human skill involved or the uniqueness of the geographical environment or other inherent characteristics associated with the GI to which the application relates;

• The particulars of the inspection structure, if any, to regulate the use of the GI in respect of the goods for which application is made in the definite territory, region or locality mentioned in the application. 

 Upon receipt of an application, it is scrutinized by the examiners and in case any deficiencies are found, a notice is sent to the applicant to rectify them. After rectification, the applicant is required to send her reply within one month from the date of receipt of the notice. The next stage is the constitution of a Consultative Group of technical experts, chaired by the Registrar, to ascertain the correctness or otherwise of the particulars furnished in the application. Subsequent to examination, the Registrar may refuse the application altogether or may accept it either absolutely or subject to certain conditions, modifications, etc. Accordingly, on the basis of the comments provided by the Consultative Group, an Examination Report is issued by the Registrar. 

Compliance, if any, is to be done within two months from the date of communication of the Examination Report to the applicant. 

Once the objections raised in the Examination Report are satisfactorily responded to by the applicant, and the application is accordingly accepted by the GI Registry, it is advertized in the GI Journal, which is a bi‐monthly, bi‐lingual (English and Hindi33) statutory publication. Upon advertisement, any person may, within a specified time period (generally 3 months, but if needed 4 months), oppose the application in writing. If the application passes through the specified time period unopposed, or in the event of an opposition,if it is decided in favour of the applicant, the Registrar is required to register the concerned GI as well as the authorized users and include the particulars in the GI Register.34 Upon registration of a GI, the Registrar is required to issue each to the applicant and the authorized users a certificate sealed with the seal of the GI Registry.

Notably, the date of filing of the application is deemed to be the date of registration.

4 ways to care your Cotton Fabric Apparels & Furnishing: Folksmarekt.com

Cotton is also referred to as White Gold historically. The term is appropriate as it continues to play a dominant role since 5000 years! Archaeologist have found cloth rags in Indus Valley Civilization dated back to 3000 BC. In 1500 BC, the Rig-Veda (sacred Hindu philosophy) hymn mentioned “threads in loom” which is generally accepted to be used for Cotton. Thus it is widely believed that Cotton production started first from India. However the Egyptian Civilization and inhabitants of Peru also knew about Cotton since ages. 

 

Cotton is most widely used natural fibres throughout the world. It requires sufficient moisture and heat to mature and grow quality fibres. The fibres of Cotton are made up of cellulose. Cotton fibres are attached to seeds inside boll of plant. A boll is made up of 6-7 seeds and near about 20,000 fibres attached to each seed making number of fibres more than 100,000. The boll of the cotton plant is also known as Seed pod. Each fibre is an elongated cell that has a hollow lumen inside that allows it to breath! The adhesive quality is due to wax like outer coating.

The length of the fibre is major determinant of the quality of the cotton. Generally long staple fibres are considered to be of higher quality. Staple length is divided into short, medium and long.

è Short staple is between 0.95cm and 2.4 cm in length

è Medium staple is between 2.54 cm and 2.86 cm in length

è Long staple could be anywhere between 3 cm to 6.35 cm

Cotton buyers buy cotton on the basis of length of fibres (staple fibre), cleanliness, degree of whiteness and fibre strength. 

Imporant Long staple cotton is Egyptian Cotton and Pima Cotton. Pima Cotton is also called sometime as ELS (Extra Long Staple) Cotton. Mainly grown in Peru, South West US and Australia, this is considered to be one of the superior blends of cotton. Egyptian Cotton by far is the most fine cotton. Towels and Sheets made from 

Egyptian cotton are in great demand as they are very soft and absorbs water quickly. Pima Cotton is similar to Egyptian cotton. It has a little smaller staple than Egyptian cotton but still it can be woven into dense and soft fabric.

So what makes this fibre so special? A look at its properties will clear the air.

(Care to peek in some beautiful cotton fabric from www.folksmarket.com? Scroll till the end!)

Properties of Cotton Products

Cotton fibres are valued for its comfort, easy to handle, affordability, natural breathing of air that soothes the skin and ofcourse the ability of millions of weavers who use this nature’s gift beautifully by making fabric for apparels, home furnishing, beddings, towels and many other decorative items.

•     Comfortable: Cotton has a soft texture and there is no surface irritant that brushes with the skin.
•     Hydrophilic: Cotton absorbs moisture from our body. It has a strong affinity with water.
•     The absorbed moisture passes through the cotton and evaporates that has a cooling effect on skin.
•     Heat Conductivity: The heat conductivity of cotton is very good. This makes it dissipate heat quickly
•     Fibres are strong and not prone to abrasion
•     Fibres can be twisted, plied and stretched.

However couple of factors can also be enumerated unfavorably. Notable among them are wrinkle prone fibre and dull color.

Nonetheless with the modern technique, the producers have now overcome these difficulties. For example, cotton in its natural state shrink by 3% but if pre treated it with certain chemicals, the effect can be reduced. This is more so for the denim. 

Moreover these days market is embracing with the fabric that is cotton blended with other fibre, like Silk and Linen.

How to wash cotton

No matter how the cotton is pre-treated, contraction or shrinkage is inherent in nature of cotton. However, one can minimize the shrinkage by bit extra care and following certain guidelines.

     1- Always hand-wash the cotton fabric. This is difficult for the busy people but it essentially is the first step in fighting the shrinkage.

     2- Be it machine or hand-wash, always use the cold water rather than warm water. Hot water agitates cotton fibre

     3- After washing, stretch your fabric, gently to neutralize its shrinkage after dry.

     4- Dry your clothes in natural sunlight. Using dryer etc make cotton fabric shrink more. 

The “White Gold” may lack color and luster but still its most sought after natural fibre. The comfort of cotton is unmatched. This is evident from the fact that Cotton fabric commands the major share of textile industry globally.

To choose wide range of cotton fabric, please visit Folksmarket.com. We have one of the largest collections of fine cotton fabric (more than 350). Some of them are listed below.

Cotton + Linen by Folksmarket.com

Cotton + Silk, Zari worked by Folksmarket.com

Cotton + Silk by Folksmarket.com

Cotton + Silk by Folksmarekt.com

Cotton + Silk by Folksmarket.com

Fine Mercerized Cotton Fabric by Folksmarket.com

Pure Cotton Fabric (merc) by Folksmarket.com

Pure Cotton Fabric by Folksmarket.com

The easy to use Add to Enquiry System makes your job much easier and convenient. You don’t need to hop in different pages to see your fabric. The entire product can be navigated quickly and with lesser hassles. 

(Folksmarket.com also offers blended cotton fabric; cotton-silk, cotton-jute, cotton-linen are all displayed in our website.)

What more?? All the technical and commercial information is readily available in your first click. Literally!!

For more enquiry, you may drop us a mail, shakti@folksmarket.com or subhash@folksmarket.com or Folksmarket@gmail.com

You can call us @ +91-9899275917/+91-9630338767/+91-9818170427