OUR SUPPLY PARTNERS

It’s a subject that we often get asked about, and people seem to have in mind big sweat shops that many of the west's biggest brands have been found to use in the past. Well, it couldn’t be further from the truth.

For a start, big sweat shops are focused on volume, churning out literally thousands of an item to leverage profit. Our products are made from recycled saris bought in batches of up to a thousand and cut in small lots.

By western standards there is minimal machinery or automation, and the workforce in each of our suppliers is small (less than 10 people) made up of several family members. This can be a huge challenge particularly given some cultural practices that are different to our own.

For example, one supplier closed for a month when a close relative passed, with the main contact, absent for 6 weeks. There is no right or wrong here, their culture is their culture, but the ability to communicate in English can be limited to one or two people and if they are away, communication stops until they return. Often, production does too.

We use 2 - 3 main suppliers now and have tried countless more over the years. The challenge has always been the quality of the products that they can produce (we have literally had to bin some as they weren’t fit to give to charity shops which is extremely sad). These are small family-owned businesses based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in the north west of India.

As you can see from the photos, the factories are small and intimate. Generally speaking, men operate the sewing machines and women do all the finishing and final checking, although this can be interchangeable as with any small business.

As in any supply partnership, communication is key and we speak to them either via Face Time or Whatsapp most days, usually in the New Zealand evening when I’m trying to cook dinner (Jaipur’s morning). We have been invited to attend a family wedding later in the year. If we manage to do so we will definitely share the photos with you!

We have a great partnership with these people and try to be supportive in growing their businesses and thereby supporting their families, as well as our own. They don’t always get it right (who does?) but they've come a long way in a relatively short time and are really keen to learn and grow with us. Hopefully you like what we create together and are able to support them and us on this journey.

It’s lovely to see new products come to life and we’ll share them throughout the year as we receive them. I know they’ll hope you like them just as much as we do.