About Coir

Coir also known as Cocos, is a versatile natural golden fibre extracted from the protective husk of coconuts.

This golden fibre is spun into a wide range of textured yarns and woven into a wealth of colourful floor coverings.

The Coir industry is a traditional Indian cottage craft, particularly centred in the State of Kerala. The beautiful products hand-woven in coir, represent the skills handed down over generations.

The Coir World

Coir, the golden fibre from India has found wide acceptance today due to its Eco-friendly characteristics . It has come to enhance the elegance of interior decor. Coir products offer a world of rich warm colours and designs which are true representations of the skill and craftsmanship of experienced workers.

Making of Coir

The husks are separated from the nuts and are retted in lagoons up to ten months. The retted husks are then beaten with wooden mallets manually to produce the golden fibre.

The fibre is later spun into yarn on traditional spinning wheel called "Ratts" ready for dyeing and weaving into myriad shades of floor coverings.
A score of variety/grades of coir yarn are produced and each variety is associated with certain specific characteristics. The applications range from Industrial, Agricultural, Horticultural and Domestic uses.

The range of Coir

The exhaustive range of floor coverings consisting of hard wearing doormats, durable mattings, crush proof pile carpets, and rugs and many more are available in a variety of dimensions and shapes. Coir Geo-textiles are inexpensive, quick and effective in civil engineering practices

Coir products are exceptionally functional and are virtually irreplaceable when it comes to being Eco-friendly, economical, durable and inexpensive.

Making the mats

Coir Mats are mainly used as doormats. They are made on traditional hand looms and are acknowledged to be the best in the world for strength, durability and brushing qualities. The Coir doormat being 100% natural, takes the first spot in Eco-friendliness. In addition they are dust - absorbent and non static plus they are naturally conditioned material which allows total comfort in either temperate or torrid zones.

Mats are made by weaving coir fibre or yarn. Mats are woven in length in specific dimensions and once the mats are separated from the looms the edges are bound inwards and the mat is ready for processing.

The mats are landed at special factories called Shearing factories where the mats are dried in the yard to remove excess moisture and are checked for quality and constructional defects. Later they are sorted and removed to a chamber where it is stacked in a particular manner and the raw mats are smoked with Sulphur fumes - this procedure called Smoking brings out the natural colour of the mat and also disinfects the material. The next process is Shearing - the mats are passed through a machine driven by electric motor and the spiral and flat blades cut the pile of the mat to a precise evenness within the tolerance to the type of Mat. The mats are trimmed on all sides for overhanging fibre or yarn. Now the mats are finished as Plain & Natural . Non pile mats are finished and ready for export packing after they are 'smoked'.

The coir doormats in the Creel and Fibre varieties are printed with vegetable dyes or with oil based pigments. These process are done in the "Stenciling shed". Each design has a set of stencils and the same are placed one after the other, sprayed with the right colours for each plate until the design is fully printed on the mat. The spray guns are operated by skilled workers and the air supply to generate the spray is produced by an electric compressor. Later the mats are dried indoors and sent for the next process.

The mats thus finished may be bevelled i.e. to clip along the designs to enhance the clarity. Fibre mats come in both design inlaid and design printed mats. Design inlaid mats are generally bevelled so too are the printed mats to enhance the appeal.

Gunbow Trading Company has more than half a century of experience in finishing and printing of raw coir products; our expert craftsmen have practiced their trade for decades and their skills and expertise have been passed onto them through generations. Over the years, our reputation as a premier supplier of high quality coir products both in India and abroad has allowed us to attract and retain the best talents in the industry from around Kerala.