The Sindh province of Pakistan is situated at a crossroads of diverse cultural influences, which allowed it to foster a range of unique crafts since the birth of Indus civilisation around 5,000 years ago. Small-scale cotton industries were prominent in areas of Pakistan like Hala, Naserpur and Thatta; that were known for their handlooms – before the rise in imports of machine goods from Europe in the mid-19th century.
Through the art of craft preservation, we are able to produce sustainable collections using three various materials; Khais, Susi and Bori. Each one goes through a fair-trade model, ensuring ethical practices and a living wage for our artisans.
Khais is a patterned double-bounded weave cloth made of pure cotton fibres that was born during the Mughal era to meet the demand for cotton blankets. The Khairpur district in Pakistan is home to the traditional material where the craft has existed for over 40 years, and was also the fourth largest exporter of indigo in the world. It became an acclaimed textile export item due to its quality and vegetable-dyed colors. The most popular colors are deep yellow, red, black, blue and green.
Bori, commonly known as burlap, is a plant-based material that has been around for 5,000 years. Although it’s not very popular in the West, it is one of the primary textiles of India and Pakistan. It’s made of jute fibres and is mainly used in carpets, bags, sweaters and cardigans. Thanks to its moisture-wicking properties, we use bori to construct large tote bags to discourage the use of single-use plastic bags.
The legendary Susi of Sindh is a material where various colors of cotton & silk threads are finely woven to create a striped pattern in which the stripes run in the direction of the warp. Traditionally, the cloth was used by women to make their shalwars (baggy trousers) in areas of Sindh like Nusserpur, Hala and Thatta. An art that was a thriving cottage industry a century ago is now reduced to three elderly master-craftsmen who are struggling to keep the art alive.
