from new york to new delhi

After graduating from Parsons the New School for Design in NYC in 2013, I joined the fashion industry as a pattern maker and technical designer for brands like Kenneth Cole and Ralph Lauren's Club Monaco (pictured here). I learned firsthand how major fashion houses streamline their production processes while consistently ensuring the quality and fit of their garments. The majority of these labels produce their work in countries like India, China or Taiwan- so while we were managing the entire process, we were only physically privy to the end result: the samples we got in the mail. As the years went by, with every shipment from an overseas factory that I opened, I began to wonder more about who was making these pieces. Where were they made, how were they made? I started looking at our factory locations on Google Maps - most notably one in a place called Gurgaon, that made the most gorgeous embroidered dresses. Soon enough just making the patterns and fitting the samples wasn't enough for me. As someone who began sewing in my childhood and designed all my crazy outfits as a teenager, I was hungry to learn more about how our clothing is actually made, and I was also curious about the hand-making of artisan craft fabrics, which seemed like the most sustainable way to make textiles.

""Rishta" (रिश्ता) is a word of Urdu and Hindi origin meaning relationship, connection, or bond between people"- I love this term, and I operate my business based on the principles I feel lie behind it. There are many ways "Rishta" is used, most notably for marriages, but it can be used to describe any kind of living, functional relationship that both sides continuously invest their time and energy into. The relationships I have with the vendors and factories I work with in India are beyond business- we chat over chai, we know each other's lives and we care about each other outside of just quantities and lead times. Every single resource you get from me is a result of these Rishtas I have carefully built and cherished throughout my time here in India. They are businesses who do good honest work and they care about supplying you with the best quality results. As time goes on I continue to regularly meet new suppliers, visit them and get to know them well so that I can confidently recommend their products and services to you, and help you build the most beautiful fashion collections possible.