Wild Nettle

The Himalayan Giant Nettle (Girardinia diversifolia), locally known as allo has been used for centuries by communities throughout Nepal. We use Wild Nettle in different weave designs in many of our products because of its natural beauty, excellent durability and long tradition within Nepal.

Wild Nettle in Nepal

Nettle grows widely throughout Nepal, occurring in harvestable flushes usually where running water is found and soil conditions are good. Communities in Nepal have traditionally used nettle particularly for making hard-wearing, long lasting clothes.

The basic fabric, however, is especially important to the Kulung community, living in Sankhuwasabha, East Nepal. This ethnic group uses nettle fabric in important and sacred ceremonies: from a blanket during birth, used to wrap around a newborn to the death of a community member who is also wrapped in the cloth.

The traditional knowledge and practice of harvesting Wild Nettle and processing its fibre has been conserved in only a few remote regions in Nepal. As modernisation progresses, these traditions, once seen as sacred and culturally significant are slowly being lost.

Supporting Tradition in Nepal

We work with, and source directly from, a nettle weaving cooperative owned and run by local women. This gives the local people more power in selling their nettle, and also specifically gives women that power (and money) which is significant in working towards gender equality and women’s empowerment in typically patriarchal communities.

Supporting Local Communities

As well as creating beautiful, unique and sustainable products for you, through creating our range of products using Wild Nettle, Khali Khutta provides an income source based on traditional skills that helps to support the Kulung community to continue their age-old tradition. By integrating the fibre into making modern styled products means helps revalue these skills and encourage the younger generation to hold on to their heritage and traditions. This makes our wild nettle products not just environmentally sustainable, but socially sustainable too.

Nettle bark is soaked in water for several days to soften it before being beaten and washed repeatedly to remove the fleshy material and tease out the usable fibers.

Nettle bark is soaked in water for several days to soften it before being beaten and washed repeatedly to remove the fleshy material and tease out the usable fibers.

The fibers are dunked in a mixture containing a special mineral soil collected near by, then hung to dry. After this, the fibers resemble something of wool which is cleaned and hand spun into a long thread, ready for weaving on the hand loom.

The fibers are dunked in a mixture containing a special mineral soil collected near by, then hung to dry. After this, the fibers resemble something of wool which is cleaned and hand spun into a long thread, ready for weaving on the hand loom.

Our Other Materials