A lot goes into making a garment, particularly when it promises to be responsible.
What are you paying for?
Price transparency entails sharing an honest breakdown of the price of a garment. Broad categories include raw materials, tailoring, packaging, transportation, research and design as well as profits. The truth about sustainable fashion is that it costs more to make than fast fashion. You are actively paying more towards fair wages for garment workers, safe and durable fabrics, not to mention profits that will be used to grow the sustainable fashion industry. Open pricing enables you to make an informed choice on all of the above. The diagram here is a true breakdown of each samurai garment.
Who made your clothes?
We ensure transparency as a way to combat Greenwashing, a growing problem within the fashion industry as the call for sustainability intensifies. At samurai, a team of two local tailors work with us on orders we receive. We share an open working relationship with them, amicably decide on a price per garment & give them ample lead time to guarantee no over-working. Our tailors are also aware of the final price being charged to the consumer and the cost of raw materials. While this prolongs the time it takes for your garment to reach you, it means minimal wastage, need based production and comfortable working hours for our team.
What is your garment made of?
In samurai’s prologue we have worked with 100% hemp and Solar Vastra Cotton. Our hemp is sourced from China. While we have sampled Indian made hemp fabric, the recent legalisation of the plant in our country meant the fabric production is new and costly without the quality justifying it. European hemp is twice as expensive as Chinese hemp and while its quality is superior, Chinese hemp doesn’t fall far behind in its make and remains reasonable. The cotton used in our lining and featuring in one of our dresses (Beyond the Skin) is sourced from company called Greenwear. Greenwear is India’s first supplier of Solar Vastra, they employ women to spin yarn on solar powered charkhas (looms). Know more about our epic fabrics in the links below.