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...
SHEIN just published a report. 15,000 customers. 21 countries. Branded as a circularity study. The headline finding: their customers are actually quite responsible. They wear clothes 50 times before discarding. They care about price. The problem, SHEIN concludes, is lack of recycling infrastructure. Convenient. Very convenient. Because what the report...
In most cultures, people believe that as someone grows older, they become calmer, wiser, and more focused on family. Grandparents are usually seen as people who guide the younger generation and spend their time caring for children and building peace within the family. But in some families, the story is...
There are moments in life when you don’t just win… you make everyone else in the room question their life choices. Shark Tank India Season 5, Episode 19 had exactly that moment. A young founder walks in. Aman starts doing his usual “main toh alpha hoon” routine. The sharks start...
Fast fashion didn’t just make clothes cheaper. It made waste fashionable, toxins normal, and disposability aspirational. For decades, the global fashion industry chased one obsession: speed. Faster production. Faster trends. Faster profits. Somewhere along the way, it forgot two inconvenient truths: Clothes sit on human skin for 10–16 hours a...
Here’s the truth most startup stories won’t tell you upfront. Purpose, Passion, and Paycheck don’t magically align. They collide. They argue. They demand patience. And in India—especially in fashion—they test your spine every single day. This is not a feel-good founder diary. This is how I’m trying to fix a...
