We’ve always been ardent fans of the work and community action by Khamir’s platform for crafts, heritage and cultural ecology of the Kachchh region of Gujarat. Supporting skilled local craftsmen to have their work find international appeal has been a life-long passion. The area of Kachchh is a mesmerizing melting pot of rich and diverse creative traditions.

Our collaboration with them is towards a shared goal of reviving the area’s indigenous approach to hand weaving Kala Cotton on pit looms. The arid climate has also pushed communities here to evolve an ingenious balance of meeting their needs by converting resources into products for daily living. This has inspired another unique material that we love - vibrant hand weaves from upcycled plastic.

The passionate team at the Entrepreneurship wing of the NGO Vidya Sagar has been devoted not just to the cause of skilling the differently abled, but also grooming them towards self-sufficiency. Textile weaving has been one such core skill that they have focussed on teaching & supporting.

Keeping in mind the varied strengths and individual requirements of their community members with cerebral palsy and autism, they have adapted looms to suit their needs. We are so happy to be the first brand to collaborate with them and bring their fabrics into our world of disobedience.

We love the idea of finding new value in what would otherwise be named waste. That’s where the teams at Banhide, Banofi & Us at Disobedience think alike. Each has developed their own effective method to turn discards from Banana farms into resilient all-weather plant leather, a process that also supports farmers with an additional income source from their banana crops.

Bio Company on the other hand, works with other plant-based sources such as tomatoes. The results are genuinely attractive cruelty-free alternatives to animal hide that take a fraction of the land and resources to create.

For centuries, the people of the Irular tribe who live in rural areas between the city of Chennai and Pondicherry have been at the receiving end of severe economic exploitation and caste discrimination. The Irular come from a typical hunter-gatherer society and are often called upon for their exceptional skills as snake catchers.

By being mentored as part of the Kanimar cluster, the women have become exceptionally skilled at needle and thread work. Their designs take inspiration from the traditional ‘Kolam’ - a sacred geometry art from. It brings us so much joy to be able to create our one-and-only pieces with their one-of-a-kind surface design art.

Over the past few decades of hyper mass production, the pastoral weavers of Deccani wool have been sidelined. The lovely team at Kambl are intent on changing their fortunes. Deccani wool is a cruelty-free, durable, long-lasting wool that is free of chemical processing and gets better with age - making it perfect for shoe design.

We’re happy to be partnering with them to help this pastoral community find new footing and rooting in modern fashion design.