Eco Friendly
In India the people still have a culture of fixing rather than throwing away unlike our western culture. Here at Koko Collective we wanted to take this ethos and use recycled materials to make all our products. In our Dog & Cat accessoires we use recycled bicycle inner tube which is sourced from local repair shops in Kolkata, India. This is a great vegan alternative to leather as its durable and waterproof, withstanding general wear and tear. All the fabrics used in our products are sourced locally at second hand sari markets, our team choose fabrics that are not silk to keep our products 100% vegan.
Social Enterprise
Calcutta Rescue employs ladies from surrounding villages who come to the workshop each week for training and to take home embroidery work. This means they can work from home and look after their families. Training is given by more experienced artisans until the quality is of a high standard.
This project is crucial as it gives independence to the ladies in rural poor communities enabling them to earn a wage and provide for their families.
All our Kantha Stitch Scarves are made by these lovely ladies, they sew one or two pieces of recycled sari together using the traditional Kantha stitch which is a small straight dotted stitch that adds strength and a beautiful aesthetic to the scarves.
Koko Collective Team
Koko Collective’s products are made by the charity Calcutta Rescue. They employ 10 artisans that have been connected to the charity either due to illness or from attending the charity's schools. We have had the pleasure to travel to India and work closely with the team to design and create our products. Each member of the team is in charge of a different process of making and quality control checks are made after each process. Calcutta Rescue is Fair Trade certified giving their employees a fair wage and access to free healthcare and schooling for their families.