Cornish eco label EKO Sense is giving away ten sets of bamboo towels to readers of jorgandolif.com and eco fashion glossy greenmystyle.com. All you have to do to enter is tell us below what you like to do to relax.

EKO Sense is a luxurious range of stylish, versatile and so easy-to-wear women’s clothing. From yoga to lounging, beach to bar, EKO Sense’s casual signature style made from luxurious eco-friendly fabrics results in a supremely wearable new womenswear label.

EKO Sense reflects the laid-back beauty that Cornwall is famous for, by producing casual essentials in the kindest of fabrics. The collection is made entirely from sustainable fabrics, selected from the latest technology in eco-fibres such as combining cashmere and soft jersey with beautiful organic cottons, bamboo fibre and tactile soyabean protein fibre. The proof really is in the wearing as they handle beautifully and feel incredibly soft, resulting in a collection as kind to the environment as the garments are to you.

EKO Sense’s range of bamboo towels complement the main collection. Fluffy and soft, these bamboo towels are anti-bacterial, super absorbent and sustainable.

To win a set of luxury bamboo towels*, leave a comment in our comment section below, telling us briefly what you do to relax. Your answer can be as long or as short as you like, but it must be clean! All comments will be moderated before being published.

Make sure you leave your email address when you add your comment. Don’t worry, unless you also put it in the comment box, it won’t display publically.

Ten winners will be chosen at random at midday on September 26.

* The prize will be one set worth £39, in Mulberry. One set equals one hand towel and one bath towel.

This competition has been promoted on ThePrizeFinder.com

The winners:
Stephanie Meyer-Scott
Sue Peters
Catherine McKay
Bob Clark
Tabita Witvliet
Joanne Baldwin
Elizabeth Smith
Shirl
Toni Q
Fiona Duale-Joliff

If you visit Varanasi, the cultural capital of India, you will experience the mystic hustle and bustle of pilgrims and slow-moving boat wallahs on the banks of the ochre-hued River Ganges. Yet, alongside the commotion is a vast peace of silk emporiums, a token tribute to an age old slow tradition of community weaving within the region that once clothed the Indian Maharajas and the Dalits (low caste) alike.

For 1,000 years, weavers willingly surrendered themselves in spiritual reverie to the quality-focused techniques of hand-looming within the city’s twisted alleyways, where kilometres of refined, luxurious thread would hang forth and feed the streets.

The silk, sometimes created in a co-operative partnership between two weavers, would be opulently embroidered with gorgeous motifs of myth and nature such as marigolds, swans and griffins through binary systems (perhaps the origin of computer’s today) and often enhanced with gold or silver (zari) thread.

Oscar de la Renta once commented that, ‘”Silk does for the body what diamonds do for the hand.”

However the fast pace of modern life, the adoption of mass production and the acceptance of “poor-quality, cheap machine-silk has substantially impacted the brocade craft and its unique results.

“Many looms are lying silent today and many have even been sold off. As the traditional sari has been pushed to a side of the wardrobe of the modern woman, so have these weavers been pushed to the fringe of their community.”

This lost craft has erupted into discord for the 150,000 remaining weavers, forcing them into a vulnerable life of unemployment, who often migrate to hard labour away from their skill and home.

Yet there is hope of revival through The Varanasi Weavers Project, which is re-training weavers and bringing the old craft up-to-date and making commercially viable. Moving away from the myriad spectacle of colours, the collection offers Western sophistication with classic colours of blacks and natural shades, while entwining clean-cut contemporary designs with the traditional aesthetic in order to make it more desirable.

The famous Varanasi embroidered “Zardosi” buttons crafted by village women, that has been long-applauded for its fashion finesse is also being revitalized, while the pure silk fabric has also been made lightweight, colour-fast and machine washable.

“We believe that these weavers have magic in their fingers; they are not asking for pity.”

Showcased to audiences at the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris in Autumn 2008, it is hoped that the project, of which now encompasses 60 weavers working in three Dalit villages around the city, can expand its aesthetically-charming and socially vital grassroots industry.

Photos:  Varanasi Weavers Project