Covid and India

Hi Friends,

When I began planning for Summer 2021, I couldn't have predicted how Covid would upend everything. Like most of us, I was living in the reality that the pandemic was nearing it's end. That vaccines were available and that we were on the path to resuming our "normal" lives. And while this is true for those of us in the U.S., it is not true across the globe. There are a lot of mixed feelings that come when I sit with that: gratitude, sadness, grief. I feel lucky to be on this side of the crisis and at the same time I wonder why it ended up this way.

As a small businesses, I work directly with the family who manufactures our kaftans. The impact of Covid on their lives has truly been devastating. Two weeks prior to our scheduled ship date for our Spring/Summer collection, India went into lockdown. Nitin and his parents contracted Covid, and their workshop was shut down. This is when the incredible disparities in healthcare between the Western world and India were brought to light.

My priority has been the health and safety of Nitin's team. Beyond that, I wanted to ensure that they knew that regardless of delays, they would continue to manufacture our kaftans and that our support was unwavering, even in the face of crisis.

The economic consequences of Covid in the garment sector are vast. With lockdowns, daily wage workers are no longer earning anything; and the majority of these workers can not afford to go a day without wages.

As a company, we are committed to paying between 50-100% of our manufacturing costs up front because we believe this is the right way to support artisans (if you want to learn more, reading about the #payup movement is a good place to start).

Your purchases from our Spring/Summer collection have directly supported a family and their team because when you shop small, you are closing the gap between who makes your clothing and who sells it.

Nitin's workshop is slowly resuming production and I'm happy to share that we have more of our original Midi length kaftans on order and set to arrive mid June. If you follow us on instagram you might catch a sneak peek of the prints that are on their way.

As always, thank you for your support.

Pragati