Hemp Is Not a Summer Fabric — And Eight Other Things We Tell Customers Before They Buy
Our busiest months are March and April.
That tells you something, and it isn't what we'd like it to say. It means most people still think hemp is a hot-weather fabric — something you buy in spring, wear till the rains, and put away. Nine months of the year, that assumption costs us sales. It also means a lot of people are wearing something less comfortable in December than they need to be.
So here are the answers we actually give on WhatsApp, including the two we'd rather not put in writing.
1. Hemp is not a summer fabric
Hemp fibre is porous. In humidity, that structure lets moisture move out instead of sitting against your skin — which is why it works in a Kolkata June. In winter, the same structure works in reverse: air pockets in the weave stop cold wind from cutting straight through.
One property, two seasons. It isn't a summer fabric that happens to be tolerable in winter. It's a fabric that regulates, and regulation is useful in both directions.
We'll be honest about our own gap here: we've never designed a winter-specific range. Our silhouettes stay the same across spring, summer, autumn and winter. That's something we're rethinking.
2. Yes, it wrinkles
Every brand selling a natural fibre gets asked this, and most of us answer “it doesn't wrinkle much.”
The truthful version: it wrinkles. Less than linen, noticeably so. But it creases, because that's what pure natural fibres do. Anything that genuinely doesn't wrinkle has synthetic content in it, and synthetic content is the thing you're avoiding by buying hemp in the first place.
Iron it while slightly damp and the creases fall out in seconds.
3. Our whites are sheer
We say this before you order, not after.
White hemp is semi-transparent — as almost all white natural fabrics are. So every white piece ships with a detachable inner. We don't include one with pants, and that's deliberate: our tops sit long enough to cover, and direct sunlight falls on the upper body rather than the legs, so pants don't read sheer in practice.
If you'd rather have an inner with pants anyway, message us and we'll add one.
4. You don't need two years to tell the difference
People ask us to justify the price against a similar-looking dress in a cheaper fabric. The honest comparison isn't a two-year durability chart. It's one day.
Wear polyester through a humid Kolkata day and by evening it smells. It holds sweat, it loses shape after a few wears, and the colour can bleed. Customers tell us hemp doesn't do that — the most common feedback we get is that they forget they're wearing it, and that they can wash it at home without the colour running.
That's a single day of difference. Multiply it across two years.
5. Ease drape matters more than your exact size
We don't cut to a rigid measurement. We cut for ease drape — the garment holds its shape while allowing your body to move and change within it.
The practical benefit is unglamorous and real: if you're a 32 chest this year and a 34 next year, the piece still fits. Most clothing fails at exactly this point, and it's the reason perfectly good garments end up unworn at the back of a wardrobe.
6. Most of our customers don't want made-to-measure
We offer custom sizing across our range. Most people don't take it.
Indian body proportions frequently don't map to a single size — many people are heavier through the torso than the lower body, or the reverse. So a co-ord bought in one size fits on top and not below. The obvious answer is custom sizing. What customers actually do is order the larger size and take it to their own tailor, because almost everyone here has one, and alteration costs less than our custom premium.
We think that's a completely reasonable decision, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise. If you're between sizes on a co-ord set, size up and alter. If you want it right the first time, message us before ordering.
7. Hand embroidery takes the time it takes
One artisan finishes one to one-and-a-half hand-embroidered pieces a day. Machine embroidery lays the groundwork first — that stage moves faster, around four pieces a day — and the resham work is finished by hand after.
Our fifteen artisans work out of our Topsia unit in Kolkata. Nothing is outsourced.
This is why made-to-order pieces aren't next-day. We hold pre-embroidered stock of our best sellers so those ship faster, but for anything custom, build in the lead time. We'd rather you know that before you order than after.
8. Sizing runs XXS to 4XL
Not as a marketing line. Because a size range that stops at L means the garment decides who gets to wear it.
If you fall outside that range, message us and we'll make it to your measurements.
9. The design isn't the reason to buy
This is the objection we hear most: I can find a similar design cheaper, in another fabric.
You can. Our silhouettes are deliberately wearable rather than dramatic — shirts, dresses, co-ords you can put on for work or for dinner. If you love the design and don't care about the fabric, buy the cheaper one. That's a rational choice.
The reason to buy ours is the fabric: what it does through a full day, how it behaves after fifty washes, whether the colour is still there in year three. If that's not what you're buying for, we're not the right brand for you — and we'd rather say that than sell you something you'll regret.
Every piece is made to order in our Kolkata atelier by fifteen artisans. Hemp blended with TENCEL™ Lyocell and organic cotton, sizes XXS–4XL, hand resham embroidery, made-to-measure across the range.
Message us before you order if you're unsure about sizing. We'd rather spend five minutes on WhatsApp than process an exchange.
