Aranya

Although there has never been any difference of opinion about the beauty and intrinsic value of natural dyes, persistent questions have been raised in national and international forums about their cost-effectiveness. Aranya was set up in the early 90's, as a fair trade micro-enterprise, to establish the commercial viability of natural dye products and to promote them in the mainstream market Quite recently, the future of Aranya has come to the hands of the Bengal Foundation. The natural dye is to be revived and the Bengal Foundatiom is ready to take on this goal with the project of Aranya. After a wonderful journey to the present, Aranya is to surge forward thanks to so many who have devoted themselves to revitalizing this part of Bangladesh’s heritage.

To this end Aranya has set up a small scale commercial production and marketing unit in Dhaka, with training and promotional facilities. All costs have been calculated over an extended period of time and compared with chemical dyed products. Although labour costs are higher, the price of the end product is only marginally more than the synthetic counterpart, as each dye solution yields two or three shades and some dye sources are from waste materials like leaves, petals, peel, etc. Exhibitions, workshops and media coverage have gone a long way in creating awareness about the non-pollutant and non-toxic nature of the dyes as well as their potential for generating increased employment in developing countries like Bangladesh. These positive features, combined with a unique colour palette, gives natural dye products an universal appeal.

natural dyes are better than artificial ones. They are environment friendly. The natural dyes do not take as enormous tolls on the environment as the artificial ones. Our river systems and river-life are suffering from the constant dumping of chemical dyes into the water. They may be found in many different colorfast shades. Expansion of the industry would create jobs for thousands of women. It allows us to hold onto an important part of our heritage. With fashion houses like Armani working with natural dyes, it is evident that they are always fashionable