18 OCT’2022, TUESDAY
Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based Saltpetre is a sustainable clothing and lifestyle brand working towards introducing eco-ethically produced goods.
As a young corporate working with Hindustan Unilever, Pooja Monga was required to galvanise support for the adoption of sustainable products among global stakeholders, policymakers, and consumers.
Additionally, she was conducting rigorous research to understand consumers’ lifestyle needs in developed as well as developing nations.
During meetings, Pooja would notice lifestyle products like clothing and accessories around her. She realised these were the ones on which people spent a substantial share of their disposable income. But she wondered how often do these things come from an eco-ethical source.
Pooja recognised how deeply she resonated with conscious consumerism. Upon dwelling deeper, she observed a significant shortfall of the same in the accessible lifestyle products segment.
She shares, “I thought to myself, we talk about sustainability, but what we wear or carry is not always sustainable. There should be a brand that is as accessible as any other brand and offers credible, eco-ethical products.”
This motivated Pooja to start Saltpetre, a sustainable lifestyle brand, in October 2020. The Bengaluru-based startup provides sustainable products in the apparel, skincare, accessories, and home accents category.
The journey
For Pooja, starting Saltpetre was a dream come true. While she had always wanted to be an entrepreneur, she also wanted to gain much-needed experience.
After starting her journey in the business world with corporations like Hero MotoCorp and Hindustan Unilever, she learnt how enterprises functioned.
Her zeal and wish to carry out eco-ethical fabric construction on a large-scale production level led her to cotton farmers in Gujarat and weavers in Kutch and Himachal Pradesh.
For almost a year, Pooja stepped into the field and learnt everything about cotton sowing, harvesting cycles, yarn spinning, textile production units, weaving, processing, dyeing, and garment manufacturing.
Following this, she started with her first batch of garments for the pilot.
Eco-ethical production
Based on simplistic design and eco-ethical production, the brand’s idea is to create a modern lifestyle rooted in sustainable living. This starts with 99% plastic-free sourcing of raw materials and packaging.
The team buys organic cotton yarn, and from there, with the help of GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified units, it constructs and processes the fabric.
The material is sourced from suppliers that are organically certified, or pass evaluation for ethical practices. “We do not go to wholesalers or retailers, but to say Vardhman or Mandhana textiles, or organic cotton outlets. These partnerships are already in place,” she adds.
The startup also utilises hemp in its apparel and also has skincare products like hemp oil-based eye balms.