The land of Rajasthan is known for its beautiful prints, patterns and weaves. Couple that with authentic work on cotton, direct from the artisans of Jaipur, and you have the popular brand Cottons Jaipur. The brand that oozes elegance and class has now forayed into the Hyderabad market with the launch of its offline store in Banjara Hills.
We catch up with the founder Behroze Singh, who is elated about her brainchild turning 25! Calling it a slow but steady pace, she says, “I can’t believe we’ve come this far, it has been such an organic growth. We started off with basic kurtas for women and slowly moved to more embellished silhouettes. After a while, we introduced western clothing, and then came children’s wear, nightwear, festive wear and now, men’s wear too.”
The fact that the brand lives and breathes the term ‘simplicity’ shows in its name. “‘Cottons’ was chosen because of the easy recall factor and the obvious indication that we were dealing with cotton clothing. The word ‘Jaipur’ was added to associate the brand with Rajasthan, our home base and a state famous for its vibrant prints,” Behroze explains.
Despite the many players in the field today, most people are still interested in buying printed fabric and even stitched readymade garments from wholesalers. “We know how some seek to buy them from wholesalers in Jaipur. Our prints and silhouettes are all original creations from our in-house design team —every Saturday we launch a new collection of 6-7 silhouettes!” she shares.
While taking us through the process of ideation to the end product, Dipali Nadkarni, the head of design at Cottons Jaipur says that the brand gets its own prints designed by a Pune-based textile artist — so you know every print is an original for which they make the artwork. “She designs an assortment of prints, be it florals, geometrics, motifs, free hand, etc. The in-house design team then categorises these into collections. Colourways are also chosen depending on the mood board. Silhouettes are designed and embellishments are done accordingly. Sometimes it’s a basic look, meaning minimum detailing, while the festive looks include a lot of embroideries, gota patti and so on.”
She adds that all fabric bits that are left over from the cutting table are categorised depending on the size. They are then upcycled to make packing bags, patchwork collections, toys, etc. About setting foot in Hyderabad, Behroze and her team noticed how the city has a huge customer base of stylish shoppers who appreciate the value of good quality clothing and love to mix and match outfits. In terms of its customers, designs and more, she adds, “Hyderabad is an IT hub, a film hub and attracts a great number of tourists.
People from different strata of life live here — from students to working women to homemakers. We have observed the women here have great respect for culture from every corner of the world, and have sophisticated tastes — so we know that it’s not going to be anything over the top for them — we figured subtle and elegant is how they like it best.”
Popular brand Cottons Jaipur has set foot in Hyderabad with the launch of its first store in the city. The founder and designer speak to CE about turning 25 and achieving the unimaginable, being a women-led sustainable brand in the world of fast fashion
Fabric bits that are left over are upcycled to make packing bags, patchwork collections, toys, etc