About
It is a privilege for us to share our story with you.
KHAAKA was created in the lockdown, when the pandemic had just hit the artisan community and they were left with little to no work. After having reached out to the bigger businesses they began reaching out to us for for work that they couldn’t get elsewhere. We had only designed and curated embroidered pieces for festivities and otherwise for trousseaus.
Coming from a family where embroidered Pure Silk suits, sarees and gararas were nothing unusual, we knew the ins and outs of embroidery, design and fabrics. I remember as a young girl of 11, my mother had passed down her Chatapati garara from her trousseau to me for an occasion. I only learnt as an adult what it’s journey had been, when it had been conceptualised, made, how many times and on what occasions was it worn and when it was passed down.
Being obsessed with silks, going down this road was as welcome a change as could come, but one would wonder if the timing was right at all, with the financial crunch and unemployment of the rise. The beginning and onset of anything is as hard as it gets, and one must respect the time and effort intakes to establish something. Patience is key.
What we mean by Sustainable Ethnic Wear?
Buy fewer articles, buy what you feel is special, wear them longer.
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Ecologically/Environmentally conscious practices. Dyeing similar colours in one water cycle instead of wasting water and generating chemical waste, reducing overall waste from production cycles, personalising the process and using organic natural fibre for fabric so if it has to be discarded, at least it can decompose and disintegrate.
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Customer experiences. We try to create unique pieces, all hand-made and special with the little imperfections. Each fabric passes through different stages, helping so many people with work, instead of mass-production with lower wages, making the journey of the suit/saree to you personalised and special.
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Providing fair wages to the artisan community. We do not cut corners and haggle with artisans for rates; they already charge nominally for the work that can be worth so much more, and make sure we pay them whatever they ask for.
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Sourcing fabric directly from weavers. Because they aren’t able to expose themselves to the markets, their reach is again limited by bigger companies that are often able to keep overhead costs low and profit margins higher. Instead of fabric retailers, we buy directly from weavers at their retail cost.
LESS IS MORE
Why KHAAKA?
Khaaka literally means layout, or the blueprint. It is the design that gets embroidered and embellished on fabrics, using paper, chalk and needles. The first stage of embroidering a fabric is transferring the pattern onto the fabric, for which an artist draws the pattern to size, on a thick butter paper. That paper with the design, is what we refer to, as a Khaaka. The fabric to be embroidered is stretched and tied to a large frame on which artisans then begin the process. The frame is called an ‘adda’. Using chalk and pins the design is then transferred onto the fabric that is stretched and put on the adda. After days of working on the adda, artisans create a piece, one at a time, each unique in its own way.
Why we say NO to machine-embroidery.
Just like an oil-painting is different from printed art, a hand-embroidered piece is different from a machine-embroidered piece. The artisan carefully sews every stitch by hand and the process takes a while, is completed in many stages, and the process takes skilled work. These are people who have mastered the art of the craft they work with and have perfected their technique over decades. What happens when we, their potential clients choose machine work over hand-work? They lose their livelihoods, even though they have no dearth of talent. Mechanised methods of mass-production takes over the industry and the entire story of fashion changes. For anyone who has indulged in art of any form, will be able to tell how difficult it is and how we must help sustain more talent so people don’t abandon craft and take up paltry alternatives to make money.
Why we say NO to Synthetic fabrics.
Synthetic materials which are by-products of petroleum are non-biodegradable, synthetic products take a long time to decompose, creating long-term pollution. Nylon is hard to recycle, making them hard to decompose, accumulate landfills more.
Some time ago, the production of clothing was simple, and at the same time laborious. Simple in the sense that, simple materials like wools and cotton were used for the production of apparels, laborious in the sense that small farmers had to handspun wools and cotton to get the required style of clothing needed.
But as demand increased, large fabric manufacturing companies emerged, where mass production of clothing fabrics was carried out. As the manufacturing enlarged, improvements were made to the manufacturing process.
The planet earth is being poisoned without repair because of these synthetic fibers. It is reported that the clothing industry is accountable for over 20% of industrial water pollution in the world.
Why we call ourselves Revivalist.
We’re bringing the Classics back. They were gorgeous, they are gorgeous and the will be gorgeous. We can’t stop loving the classic designs from the era when design was respected, painstakingly created to maintain originality and motifs meant something more than just a pattern.
Why Minamilistic designs
We want our clients to not binge-buy, rather seek out what they want in our product and buy only when they feel were able to reflect their taste. We try to keep the designs minimal to ensure the longevity of the piece.
