Why We Make in Small Batches
Dear friends,
There is a question we are asked often. Why don't we make more? Why can't a piece simply be restocked the moment it sells out?
The honest answer is that small batch is not a limitation for us. It is the whole point.
Rather than committing to one large run of a single design, we work across a variety of fabrics and make in small quantities. It means more choice, more variation, and considerably less waste. We are not trying to guess how many hundreds of units will sell and hope we are right. We make close to what we actually need, which keeps us honest, and keeps excess stock from ever being made at all.
It means something for you, too, in the wearing of it. With small batch pieces, there are simply not many out in the world. You are unlikely to meet someone else in the exact same one. There is a quiet uniqueness in that, a point of difference mass production cannot offer.
Sometimes we are able to bring a piece back within the same season. More often, we cannot, and that is by design as much as by circumstance. Our fabrics are handwoven, which takes time. Our production is based in India, fitted gently into the schedule of a small manufacturing partner rather than an industrial factory. It is a slower process from start to finish, and one we think is worth protecting.
Our manufacturing partner is not a large industrial unit. It is an intimate, women owned and women led studio, run by Shivangi, someone I am lucky enough to call a friend, and whose studio I have visited myself. There is a real sense of family there, everyone quietly getting on with their craft rather than working a production line. Shivangi is deeply discerning about who she works with. She handpicks the designers and brands she partners with, specialising in slow made, independent labels. Nobody there is mass producing, and our values sit close together because of it. Ethical. Considered. Small.
Working this way also means the people making our pieces are never rushed through volume targets. Handweaving and small production runs allow for a more considered pace for everyone involved, not only us, designing quietly from our studio in Hackney, East London, but the makers themselves.
There is a practical side to this too. Making in small quantities means we are never tying up large amounts of money in stock before we know how a season will be received. Every season has its favourites, the pieces people take to straight away, and inevitably a few newer styles that do not connect in quite the same way. That is simply the nature of trying something new. Because we only ever make a little of each, the pieces that sell through more slowly are never a large amount of stock to begin with, which means we can let them go gently, often through a small reduction, rather than being left holding a costly surplus. It keeps us light on our feet, and able to keep taking small risks on new fabrics and ideas each season.
Because we make in small batches, pieces tend to sell through gradually, over a season, sometimes over several. We do not discount often, or heavily. More often, unsold pieces are simply carried over, rephotographed, and offered again the following season. Every so often we will offer a small reduction, more as a thank you to those who wear our pieces than as a clearance. Retail has its quieter moments, and like any small, sustainable business, there are times we need to look after our cash flow, to invest in the next length of fabric, the next small production run. That is simply the reality of it. But it is never our default, and we try to remain mindful of that.
Small batch, for us, is not a trend. It is a naturally slower, more ethical way of making, and one we are proud to keep choosing.
With love,
R