As sustainability becomes more and more part of our everyday lives, I am intrigued by companies that have successfully applied the practice to their business. On a recent trip to Hudson in upstate New York I visited Les Indiennes, a small exclusive textile company with one store in the world that happens to be located in Hudson’s historic Warren Street shopping district.

Fabrics are beautifully broken in and soft to the touch having been made entirely by hand - *Les Indiennes*

A four hundred year tradition of Kalamkari textile print making became the inspiration for French provençal prints

In a tiny village in Southern India hand-blocked textiles are created entirely by hand for Les Indiennes. There, the Founder Mary Mulcahy met craftsmen who practice the art of Kalamkari, a labor-intensive textile process that requires 15 steps and 40 days to complete, monsoon weather permitting. The all-cotton fabric is boiled, washed and then bleached in the sun. The next step entails hand carved teak blocks dipped in dyes derived from plants, roots, earth and rock being pressed onto the cloth by hand, meticulously creating distinctive patterns. The art of Kalamkari is carried out with no automation, electricity or mechanization that’s completed with the sun’s heat whitening the cotton and fixing the dyes permanently in place.

The precise patterns and gentle colors are trademarks of Les Indienne’s Kalamkari fabrics

Some items like these pretty and practical kitchen towels are available only in the store, so I grabbed 6…who knows if/when I’ll be in Hudson again!

“Les Indiennes perpetuates and sustains the ancient art of kalamkari while providing fair-trade income to over fifty families in the village.” These fabrics are beautiful, sustainable and support an entire village community.