In D2C fashion, everyone sees the photographs. The model. The product. The packaging. The Instagram reels. The website. The influencer wearing it. Almost nobody sees the work holding the business together. And that is where many new fashion entrepreneurs get their first shock. Fashion Is Not Just About Fashion Launching...
You walk into a street with five mobile phone shops. Each one sells a different brand. You spend an hour comparing prices, features, and offers before picking one. You feel like you made a smart, independent choice. Here is the twist. Four of those five brands may belong to the...
Every day we hear about charities receiving donations from individuals, support from companies through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and even grants from international organisations. We admire the schools they build, the hospitals they support, the lives they transform, and the communities they uplift. Yet very few people ever stop to...
This is probably the hardest question I’ve been asked since starting Handlooom.com. “If a handloom saree sells for ₹8,000 or ₹15,000, why isn’t the weaver wealthy?” At first glance, it seems like an obvious contradiction. Expensive products. Highly skilled artisans. Centuries-old craftsmanship. Yet many weaving families continue to face financial...
One of the most common questions I hear is: “Why should I spend ₹5,000 on a handloom saree when I can buy something similar online for ₹999?” It’s a fair question. But it’s also a question built on an illusion. Because the two products are rarely the same. One is...
When people admire a handloom product, they usually see the finished piece. A beautiful saree. A soft cotton shirt. An elegant stole. A perfectly woven table runner. What they don’t see is the invisible supply chain behind it. Before starting Handlooom.com, I assumed that if demand increased, production would naturally...
The day I entered the handloom industry, I expected to learn about fabrics, looms, yarn counts, dyes, and weaving techniques. Instead, I learned something far more disturbing. The biggest problem wasn’t weaving. It was trust. Every product seemed to carry a beautiful story. “Handmade.” “Artisan-made.” “Natural.” “Eco-friendly.” “Traditional.” But when...
For centuries, a handloom product carried a story. A story of a weaver. A story of a family. A story of a village. A story of heritage passed down through generations. But somewhere along the way, that story began disappearing. Today, the biggest enemy of genuine handloom is not changing...
Some people are born into purpose. I was not. I had to fail my way into it. I grew up in Kollam, Kerala, watching my grandfather run a textile business. I didn’t study his ledgers. I didn’t analyse his margins. I just watched him — the way he spoke to...
The Brand That Didn’t Scream… But Built Authority In an industry addicted to noise, discounts, and “Buy 2 Get 3 Free” chaos, 11.11 / eleven eleven chose silence. No aggressive ads. No mass production. No compromise. Founded in 2008 by Shani Himanshu and Mia Morikawa, the brand built itself on...
