How an Erode business has started an eco revolution in fashion

During a visit to the textile hub of Tirupur in the mid-90s, S.P. Mani and his wife Amutha—founders of Erode-based Jothi Specialty Papers—were struck by the mountains of pre-consumer textile waste being dumped into landfills.

Mani, a seasoned paper manufacturer, recalled a government-run skilling programme he had once attended, where he’d learnt to make paper from discarded textiles. It felt like the right moment to revive that knowledge and put it to use.

“The 90s weren’t exactly buzzing with ideas of recycling or upcycling the way they are today,” says their son, Meghanathan, who now helms the business.

According to the Textile Value Chain, India generates approximately 7.8 million tonnes of textile waste annually, accounting for about 8.5% of the global total. This volume is primarily driven by fast fashion, overproduction, and a prevalent throwaway culture. 

The couple returned to Erode with bundles of textile waste and began repurposing it into handmade paper—sturdy, sustainable, and purposeful. That paper soon found its way into name cards, price tags, and paper bags, quietly laying the foundation for a business rooted in circularity long before it was a buzzword.

Today, Jothi Specialty Papers offers a sustainable alternative to the fashion industry’s reliance on fibreglass and plastic displays with yet another groundbreaking invention—mannequins made out of paper.

The post-pandemic era and conscious consumption 

Years later, when the COVID-19 pandemic pushed people to re-evaluate their relationship with consumption and sustainability, the circular economy gained popularity. 

For Mani and his family, this was an opportunity to meet fashion brands and offer a replacement to fibre glass and plastic mannequins with those made from the same repurposed paper they were using, but this time, making it thick, mouldable, and in fibrous consistency.

“Back in 2010, we had already been approached by Tanishq to make display busts for them. We  have been selling 10,000 to 15,000 display busts to them every year, amounting to almost 2,00,000 pieces so far,” says Meganathan. “After the pandemic, we started creating dress mannequins (ones that are used to display dresses, entire outfits, including tops, bottoms, and sometimes shoes.) in the same way.”

The process

Jothi Specialty Papers is now a Global Recycled Standard (GRS is an international, voluntary certification for products made from recycled materials)-certified cotton paper, board, and mannequin manufacturer. It employs a team of 55 women from nearby villages on a contract basis in Pallipalayam municipality, where they are located. 

The mannequins are made using a low-impact process that blends traditional techniques. It begins with the collection of fabric scraps—mostly cotton offcuts sourced from apparel and toy manufacturing units in Tiruppur’s industrial hubs. These textile remnants are shredded and pulped into a dense, fibrous mixture.

To ensure structural strength and biodegradability, this pulp is blended with a plant-based, non-toxic adhesive, creating a malleable material. They then follow an extensive production cycle—from initial mixing and layering to careful moulding, shaping, and finishing.

Each mannequin is moulded by a team of trained women, many of whom are engaging in skilled work for the first time. Fibre-rich materials like cotton, rag or jute are used to create a dense, sturdy pulp for heavy mannequins, which are used for layered Indian dresses. Finer, more diluted pulp mixtures from the textile waste are used for lighter mannequins. 

The forms are left to cure and harden naturally under the sun, which eliminates the need for energy-intensive ovens or industrial dryers.

On average, it takes about a week to complete a single mannequin. And by relying on manual processes and solar drying, the operation maintains a significantly lower carbon footprint than plastic and fibre glass mannequins.

Reports show that traditional fiberglass mannequins involve the use of hazardous chemicals and resins, posing risks to both the environment and manufacturing workers. In contrast, mannequins made from recycled fabric materials typically avoid these toxic substances, leading to safer production processes.

Mannequins crafted from biodegradable materials like paper paste can decompose naturally at the end of their lifecycle, unlike fiberglass or plastic mannequins, which persist in the environment for extended periods.

“The market price for fibre glass mannequins is Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000. Our mannequins cost slightly higher at Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000, since they are handmade and production costs are marginally higher. But many orders for our mannequins come in bulk, so they end up costing much lesser - around the same cost as fibre glass mannequins,” says Meghanathan.

As the fashion industry grapples with its environmental footprint, innovations like those from offer a blueprint for integrating sustainability into core business practices. “Our products are used by global fashion brands like Zara and Dior, and many like them want to align with the values of younger generations of eco-conscious consumers,” says Meganathan.  

Jothi Specialty Papers is supplying mannequins to export businesses in Dubai and an upcoming circular fashion festival in Australia. 

The company believes it is only getting started. 

Governments, especially in Europe, are introducing stricter ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) guidelines. Simultaneously, industry bodies and certification systems (like GRS, Fair Trade, OEKO-TEX) are pushing brands to prove their sustainability claims.

“If you look at production costs, plastic mannequins are the cheapest,” says Meganathan. Fibre glass, while durable and widely used, is notoriously difficult to recycle or repurpose due to its composite structure—a mix of plastic resin and fine glass fibres. If anything, it can be repurposed by downcycling; by being crushed or ground into powder or chips, and then used as fillers in concrete, asphalt, or construction panels.

All these processes require high-power industrial machinery and additional binding agents which are immensely energy-intensive.

“Our biodegradable mannequins are marginally more expensive than fibre glass ones, but we find that fashion brands—especially global names—are willing to make the investment. It’s not just about the product; it’s about aligning with conscious, sustainable values, which are increasingly vital to a brand’s identity today," says Meganathan.