From AJRAK-patterned shirts for men named Ardhanaarishvar to a blue handloom kurti named Alai, Bengaluru-based store Butyful Me is a mix of modern silhouettes with traditional Indian fabrics. Although the brand has come to Chennai before for several pop-ups with Lime Soda, Kalakshetra and Trunk Bazaar, this is their first store, located at Luz. After an eye opening conversation with an autodriver and
weaver in Bengaluru, owners Ramya Padmanabhan and Srinath Parthasarathy realised that there is a huge, undiscovered weaving unit in the city itself many of who were forced to leave weaving and take up other jobs.
Connecting with clusters
“We have an underlying agenda to assist the Indian handwoven and handprinting industry grow,” says Ramya who previously worked in the IT sector. “We then researched on the pollutants that polyfibers release with every wash, and personally decided to wear more of Indian weaves and prints, and slowly dreamt of expanding it to a larger population at very affordable price.” Started in 2018 with their first store in Bengaluru, Ramya who is originally from Chennai realised that when she goes looking for ajrak or kalamkari, many of them are duplicates that are screen- printed. “An original kalamkari will take at least a month to create. That’s when we decided to go authentic and connect with clusters in Rajasthan, Jaipur, West Bengal and Mumbai. We don’t have a production unit of our own but we have tied up with tailoring units,” Ramya, adding that the fabrics are either sourced through clusters and NGO-based units.
Prints and palazzos
About 30-40 per cent of the dyes used in production are natural, and the store has stocked up on halter necks, crop tops, shorts, shirts, dresses, bottoms, tie-up shirts, palazzos, jackets and stoles. “We source these fabrics and make patterns with two different fabrics. It really does elevate the total feel of the outfit,” says Ramya. Choose from their wide range of dresses like Neelam, a blue shibori flare dress, Mazhai, an indigo block print kurti and blue palazzo pants with a tie-up shirt.
Starts at `800.
Store launches today.