About the Producer

Fair Trade supplier

• Located in India
• A co-oprative wholly owned and controlled by the workers, who bought out the privately owned business they used to work for in 1958
• Works only with sustainable coir fibre - a by-product of coconut harvesting - and hand-processing

The Shertallai Coir Co-operative Society makes the Dove Doormats for New Internationalist. It was the first co-operative society to be founded in Kerala, ("the land of coconuts") in southern India.

The inspiration of a former trade unionist who encouraged coir workers to form their own workers' society, the Co-operative was previously a private business before it was bought out by the artisan workers in 1958. The society represents a big step forward for coir workers who had for decades endured a terrible struggle for their basic human rights. Today, most coir is still made in factories that remain in private ownership, but our cooperative partner is wholly owned and controlled by those who work in it.

However, partly as a result of the introduction of synthetics, the global market for coir is decreasing, so the co-operative finds it difficult to provide constant work for all its members. New Internationalist stands in solidarity with this co-operative and its eco-friendly natural products.

From Coconut to Doormat

Coir fibre is 100% natural and originates in the outer husk of coconuts. When you see coconuts on sale in the shops, what you are offered is only the inner and edible parts of the seed pod. Back on the tree, there are also outer layers – on the outside a smooth green or brown skin; then a fibrous layer that surrounds and protects the familiar hard dark-brown shell that you can buy in the shops.

Coconut trees are tall – commonly 25 metres high – and this fibrous layer is a strong shock-absorbing mesh that protects the seeds from damage when they fall. It is also water-resistant. Coir fibre comes from this part of the coconut.

The structure of coir fibre cells is narrow and hollow, with thick walls made of cellulose. Mature coir fibres contain more lignin, a complex woody chemical, and less cellulose than fibres such as flax or cotton. This makes coir stronger, although less flexible. After removal from the tree, the fibrous husks are soaked for several months in water ponds to swell and loosen the fibres. After nature works through that process, the husks are taken out and beaten to separate out the long fibres, before drying and cleaning up.

Next comes hand spinning into fine yarn, then twisting to make the long and very strong coir strings that are loaded onto big handlooms ready for weaving.