In the forested hills of Koraput district in southern Odisha, the Mirgan community — a tribal weaving group — has practised a form of handloom unlike anything else in India. Named after the village of Kotpad, this weave holds two rare distinctions: it was the first product from Odisha to receive a GI tag, and it is the only handloom fabric in India to earn GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification, the world’s most rigorous standard for organic textiles.
What makes Kotpad extraordinary is its exclusive use of plant-based natural dyes. No synthetic chemicals enter the process. The deep, warm red that defines Kotpad comes from lac, harvested from forest trees; golden yellows from turmeric; and a whole range of earthy browns and maroons from the roots of the aal (Indian madder) tree, prepared over days through a patient, traditional method.
The colour is not painted on — it is grown into the yarn through repeated soaking, sun-drying and treatment, which is why a genuine Kotpad deepens and mellows with age rather than fading. The cloth itself is woven from coarse, handspun cotton, giving it a distinctive earthy texture quite unlike mill cloth.
This makes Kotpad one of the purest slow-fashion statements anywhere: a fabric whose entire life cycle, from forest to fibre to finished weave, stays within nature and within a single community’s hands.
Crafts like Kotpad face the same modern paradox as so much of Odisha’s heritage — extraordinary skill, narrow market access. Connecting these weavers, verifiably and fairly, to buyers who value exactly what makes their work rare is the entire reason this marketplace is being built.