A group of women in Java is saving endangered gibbons by making cloth. They dye fabric using leaves and bark from the very forest where the gibbons live. The textiles are not just beautiful. They are a financial lifeline that keeps the forest standing.
A textile business born from the Halimun forest
The women belong to a collective called Ambu Halimun. They work in the village of Cisarua, on the edge of Mount Halimun Salak National Park in West Java, Indonesia. The park is one of the last strongholds for the Javan gibbon, a primate found only on this island. The women gather fallen leaves, bark, and fruits from the forest floor. They use these materials to make ecoprint fabric, a technique that transfers natural pigments and shapes directly onto cloth. No two pieces are the same. Each one carries the pattern of a specific tree or fern from the park.
Why local people care about the gibbons
For years, the forest faced pressure from illegal logging and farming. Local families, especially women, had few ways to earn money without cutting trees. The Ambu Halimun collective changed that. By selling their ecoprint textiles, the women generate income that depends on a healthy forest. The more trees that stand, the more leaves and bark they can harvest. The gibbons benefit directly. The group also patrols the forest and reports illegal activity. They have become informal guardians of the park. The Javan gibbon, which is critically endangered, needs intact canopy to move and feed. Every tree saved by the textile business is a branch the gibbons can use.
The collective started small, with just a handful of women learning the ecoprint method from a local activist. Today, their fabrics sell in cities like Jakarta and Bandung. The money helps pay for children's school fees and household needs. The women say they never imagined their craft would protect an entire species. But the link is clear. The gibbons survive because the forest survives. And the forest survives because the women have found a way to earn from it without destroying it.
This is not a story about charity or outside intervention. It is about people who live next to a forest choosing to keep it whole. The Javan gibbon does not know about fabric dyes or markets. But its home remains standing, in part, because of what the women of Ambu Halimun make with their hands.
