Report November 2026

Absolute consistent supply of a natural product is challenging. Annual variety in wine a good example. Yet we strive to regulate what we can to get close to homogeneity. 

The beginning of product uniformity is always the material it is made from. In this case raw Tossa jute fibre, variable in quality and colour season to season, region to region, and where reliance on an expert buyer is critical. Without control of selection and procurement of the raw material, consistency becomes impossible.

Mills supply to a range of applications and this requires various yarn grades. They fill their storage sheds at optimum buying time with raw fibre qualities to suit the coming year’s expected demand.

Production begins with fibre selection from procured stock and hackling quality control removal of root–stock, gummy tops and other impurities determined by final intended use, from fine fabrics to rough sacking.

Next come the steps to make the core yarn component: batching, carding, drawing and spinning. Standard Carpet Backing, Hessian and Sacking yarns are generally in constant production. Due to machine gearing, settings, etc., changeover downtime determines minimum orders for speciality yarns. Our KI (KOUMANAWA Ito) yarn developed, designed and engineered specifically for Shibari applications requires a minimum 10 metric tonne production run.

Regular yarn grades can be purchased in 5 tonne minimum orders direct from mills, always on Sale-No Return export terms. But with no regulation over the raw material there is still no consistency. 

Carpet Backing yarns have often been used in jute bondage rope due to availability, and lower impurities and hairiness versus Hessian and sacking, but are a small percentage of total demand, diminishing due to competition from alternative materials and methods.

By having control from the jute farms, we don’t need to rely on distributors further down the supply chain who procure in larger bulk to service key markets, and who often find themselves with sub–minimum order quantities of leftover stock. As noted by constantly–changing product specifications from other vendors, this is usually due to small–quantity yarns generally of less than a pallet, ultimately unrepeatable, and often inappropriate for our application.

Without control of the core yarn component, you cannot control the rope product. Without control of the raw material, you cannot control the yarn component. We have managed to overcome the critical, essential factors determining consistency and feel, within fair tolerance, we can replicate our products as a result.