4 Ways To Spring Into Your Sarongs

Are you excited for warmer sunny days? Get into spring with these outfit ideas and put your sarongs to good use. Let's think out of the box and explore different ways to use our sarongs aside from the usual beach cover ups, sarong skirts and beach dresses. Whether you're at the city or on a tropical island, here are some cool ideas that we felt you might enjoy:

1) Wedding with Nature

Forest Green Sarong

How pretty is this? Imagine having a forest or garden themed wedding. If it gets cold outside, get your bridesmaids to cover up in the same green sarongs as shawls.

2) Casual Jeans with Orange Sarong Skirt

Abstract Top Quality Sarong in Orange

We've never thought of this and liked the idea of tying a sarong around your hips just to give an edge to a casual look!

3) Minimalist Twist

Charcoal Grey Smoked Sarong

When smoked sarong meets plain top - why not mix and match your smoked sarongs and wear them as long skirts paired with solid colored tops?

4) Bright & Colorful Sarong Tops

Lime Green Sarong

Just like flowers that bloom, pick out your brightest colored sarongs and express your personality! We love the idea of pairing a sarong tube top with long pants.

We hope that you got some inspiration from these different ways to wear your sarongs. If you like some of these styles, get your sarongs out and start styling up for this season. You can follow us on Pinterest to browse for more 'sarongspiration'. 

Valentine's Gift Ideas for Him & Her

Valentine's Day is tomorrow! We got inspired by this list of most romantic island getaways and began imagining a beach holiday with our loved ones. If you're heading for a beach holiday soon, be it to the Caribbean islands, Hawaii or Costa Rica, check out our top picks catered for your romantic escapade:

Matching Hawaiian themed shirt and long dress for couples

'Be my Valentine' beach cover ups like pink or red sarongs

 Keep your sarongs tied securely with the symbol of love

'Love sets you free' men's black Sulu or hot pink men sarong

Elegant scarves for your romantic dinner date

Whether your hanging out with your best friends or going on a date or spending quality time with the family, have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

A Mission Statement Focused on Sustainability

Happy New Year! 1 World Sarongs is 15 years old this year! We are proud to say, in 2013 and 2014 we had a healthy increase in our business, we introduced many new products successfully and our customers continue to praise us for our great service and the value we provide to them. We believe that it's a good practice to look back at where we have been and where we are going.

We have been thinking about our mission of creating sustainable businesses. We strongly believe that together with our combined ideas, energy and actions - we can have a much greater effect on our mission! Every day we ask ourselves - How do we be Earth friendly and people friendly and have fun doing it?

Our mission statement is to create a sustainable business by focusing on these points:

• Be gentle on earth - what is our impact/ footprint on our planet? 
• Utilize technology - print only if necessary, so no printed catalog or printed materials – internet only
• Recycling materials - create uses for excess material
• Use less material - maximize fabric cutting
• Efficient shipping methods - sea cargo verse air cargo
• Earth Friendly - create and source products that are Earth friendly and renewable (coconut, bamboo, etc)
• Donate to charities such as Union of Concerned Scientist, The Amazon Foundation, American Red Cross and the Rotary and Oceana, etc.
• Create a product that benefits a certain cause
• People Friendly
• Fair wages / Fair trade
• Healthy working environments
• Support educational programs
• Give back to the community by getting involved with causes that help local communities 
• Get involved with beach clean-ups
• Art Friendly - music, dance
• Supporting and respecting cultural traditions - Create and source handmade items like batik, embroidery, beading, tie dye, fringing, hand screen printing, hand dyed etc. 

So let's think about:

1.    How do we contribute to the solution of creating a better world and yet maintain and increase our living standard?

2.    What are the problems and solutions?

3.    How do we create value that is long lasting?

4.    How do we create relationships that have meaning and provide growth and value?

5.    How do we make it better for all that are involved?

6.    Who has a thought, idea or suggestion on how to accomplish our mission?

As we once heard, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. We truly believe we can make a big difference together. All ideas, thoughts and comments are very much appreciated! We're always happy to hear from you and so you can drop us an email.

Thanks for reading!

With love & peace,

1 World Family

Batik Talk: The Spirit of America in the Heritage of Batik

~ Art is seen as a part of life and it's important to appreciate the feeling of Indonesia that is manifested through Batik ~

What is Batik? And what happens when Indonesian heritage of Batik meets American contemporary art? This fascinating video made by The Embassy and Indonesian Societies in Washington DC showcases the cultural fusion of Indonesian Batik culture and American modern designs. "The media of Batik is of great interest as an object of cultural collaboration", says artist Agus Ismoyo.

We are in the age of modernization where technology becomes a part of Batik. How does it affect the final product? These days, Batik designs are being created digitally and computers are used to form electronic designs. Following the history of Batik, a batik painter would typically hand draw & paint on a big white fabric in free motion. The question is - how would electronic designs be adapted into the natural process of Batik making?

The challenges for Batik production is to make sure that the art stays true to its aesthetics. When creating new sarong prints on a computer program, it's easy to have control over the designs according to taste, shape and color. The challenge for sarong makers is to emulate the exact design and colors from a digital artwork using a natural process. The technique of coloring on a piece of cloth is subjected to variables that are hard to manage in comparison to say, having color codes to key in from a universal color chart.

Watch this video to understand these challenges better and to enjoy the American contemporary designs in Batik form.

PS: Do check out our collection of hand painted sarongs and Batik sarongs!

Sarong Fabrics: Rayon, Cotton, Polyester or Silk: PART 2 COTTON

We've once talked about our first choice of fabric being rayon sarongs. Next, we want to talk about the most popular traditionally used sarong material – cotton fabric.  Various cultures in South East Asia used cotton sarongs also known as “Batik” for their traditional women attire known as “kebaya”. The combination of a "kebaya" top and batik sarongs are historically worn by women in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Burma, Singapore, southern Thailand, Cambodia and the southern part of the Philippines. 

Baba nyonya Kebaya traditional attire for women in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei (Image via Pinterest)

Kebaya style women seen in Bali culture (Image via Pinterest)

..before that, what is Cotton? Cotton is a white, natural fiber cultivated from the seeds of cotton plants, they are made in threads and used to make soft, breathable-like textile when it comes to fashion. 

Cotton plants (Image via agrodaily.com)

If you’re a big fan of soft, fluffy and comfy wraps, then cotton sarongs are perfect for you. And why would you choose cotton Sarong over other fabrics? Well, they make a great beach wrap if you like the exotic look and makes an ideal wrap for windy days at the beach. Batiks are handmade via batik stamp or hand stamp and so each batik sarong is a unique piece of its own! We feel that it makes a great picnic mat too, its durable fabric makes it easy to lay out in the sun and you can even get the whole family in because our traditional sarongs comes in a larger size of (74 x 42 inches) compared to our regular sarongs that are usually measured (66 x 44 inches).  

Traditional Batik Wraps by 1 World Sarongs

If you like to think out of the box, try using your cotton sarong for home ware such as curtain drapes, table cloth cover, bed throw and so much more. Have you ever thought about using your cotton sarong at home? That aside, we always feel that sarongs make a great travel companion because they are so reliable in all situations. We think that cotton sarongs would work great as your temporary travel bed sheet (soft on your skin!), a portable blanket (nice, thick and warm!) and a towel (the fabric absorbs water very well!).

Not to mention, cotton sarongs can be worn and used for all seasons – be it spring, summer, fall or winter! Some of customers use their cotton sarongs to wrap up their necks, head or shoulders for the cold season. Some even take it with them on date night at the movies when it gets chilly with air conditioning. Cotton is thick and solid enough to keep you warm than say polyester or rayon fabric.

By the way, have you ever wondered where does Cotton grow? Cotton is usually harvested in warm climates and some of the main producers in the world are countries like the U.S., Uzbekistan, China , India, Brazil, Pakistan and Turkey.

Image via thehindu.com

Fun Facts about Cotton:

• Absorbs up to 27 times its own weight in water
• Has a comfortable, soft hand
• Easy to wash
• Is durable and strong
• Conducts heat well
• Resists graze & chemicals impacts
• Resists pilling and moths
• Easy to handle and sew

How to care for your cotton sarong?

• Do not overexpose your cotton sarong under the sun for longer durability.
• Due to its low resiliency, after a quick wash, avoid squeezing it dry for fewer wrinkles on fabric.
• Keep your cotton sarong washed with the same color clothing to avoid color spill over.
• Do not use hot water, stick to cold wash

We also got a cool tip to share, how can you tell if our sarong is made of cotton or other fabric?Scrape the fabric with your finger nail and if the threads separate, then the fabric that you have might be low grade cotton or mixed material because good cotton sarongs won’t separate that easily.

Cotton sarong by 1 World Sarongs

In a nutshell, why do we use more of rayon sarongs than cotton fabric? Well, cotton as sarongs doesn't really drape as well as rayon and they are higher in cost and since we try to run our business with sustainable practices, we want to be efficient and would rather produce more with rayon material than cotton.  While cotton can be more durable and gives a feeling of breath-ability but in our experience, rayon seems to flow better on a body and have more breath-ability which makes it great for the tropical weather. Plus, it's allows us to offer you fair prices and good quality sarongs at the same time, which is why it’s our primary choice of sarong fabric. That doesn't mean we don't ADORE our cozy cotton sarongs though!

Up next, we’ll be talking about polyester sarongs in Part 3. Stay tuned and if you have any questions or feedback that might help us in our research, please leave us a comment below:

Peace & Love,

The 1 World Family