What Happens When You Order a Saree From a Small Brand?

When you order a saree from a small brand, you might imagine that it goes something like this:

You click Buy.

The saree is picked up from a shelf.

It is packed.

And it is on its way to you.

Sometimes, yes.

But behind that little Order Confirmed email is a lot more work than you probably realise.

Especially when the saree is handwoven and comes from a weaver in the interiors of Assam.

So I thought I'd show you what actually happens after you place an order with us.

First, we receive your order

The first thing that happens is, obviously, we see your order come in.

There is something very nice about this part.

Someone, somewhere, looked at a saree online and thought, I want this one.

But before it gets anywhere near a shipping label, there are a few things to do.

We check the order.

We check the address.

We check the payment.

And then we go looking for your saree.

We find the saree

Unlike a large warehouse with hundreds of identical pieces sitting in boxes, small brands often don't carry enormous quantities of every product.

A handloom saree is also not something we can simply reorder overnight.

So we locate the exact saree you've ordered and check that it is still available and ready to go.

And if it has been sitting in storage for a while, it gets another look.

Because the fact that something has been photographed and put on a website doesn't mean we stop caring about its condition.

Then we check it again

This is one of those parts you never see.

Before your saree leaves us, we look at it properly.

We check the fabric, the weave, the edges, the finishing and the overall condition.

We look for anything that shouldn't be there.

Handloom does come with small variations. That's part of the nature of a handwoven fabric.

But there is a difference between a natural variation and something that should have been caught during quality control.

We want you to receive what you saw and decided to buy.

Then comes the folding

A saree is a surprisingly large piece of fabric when you unfold it.

And somehow, once you have to put it into packaging, it becomes a small exercise in geometry.

It needs to be folded carefully.

Not thrown into a box.

Not crumpled into a bag.

And depending on the fabric, we may steam or press it so that it arrives looking the way it should.

Because opening a package and pulling out a beautifully folded saree is part of the experience too.

We package it

Then comes the packaging.

We make sure the saree is protected while it travels.

We prepare the shipping label.

We add whatever needs to go with your order.

And then comes the part that is particularly satisfying:

closing the package.

Your saree is ready to leave us.

Then it enters the postal system

Once it leaves our hands, it has another journey ahead.

It gets picked up.

It moves through sorting facilities.

It travels across cities, provinces, countries or sometimes continents.

And eventually, a delivery person leaves it at your door.

That part is no longer entirely in our control.

But we still keep an eye on the tracking.

Because until you have received your order, we're not completely done thinking about it.

And then there are the messages

Sometimes the delivery goes perfectly.

Sometimes it doesn't.

An address needs correcting.

A package is delayed.

Someone wants to know when their order will arrive.

Someone isn't sure how to care for their new saree.

Someone wants to know whether the colour in the photograph is accurate.

We answer those questions.

That's another part of buying from a small brand that you don't necessarily see.

There isn't a giant customer service department somewhere answering your email.

Often, you're talking directly to the person who sourced the saree, chose it, photographed it, put it on the website and packed your order.

And the story started long before your order

Of course, none of this is where the work actually began.

Before you ever clicked Buy, someone had to find the weaver.

We had to decide what to source.

Travel, meet people, look at fabrics and understand what was being made.

Choose colours and designs.

Place orders.

Arrange transport from Assam.

Receive the sarees.

Check them.

Photograph them.

Write the product descriptions.

Upload them to the website.

And then, somehow, get them in front of you.

Your order is the final step in a process that started much earlier.

This is what I like about small brands

There is something very personal about buying from a small business.

Your order isn't just another number moving through a huge warehouse.

There is usually a person on the other end who knows what you bought. 

Sometimes, they know exactly who made it too.

And I think that matters.

When you buy one of our handloom sarees, there is a whole chain of people and work behind it.

A weaver in Assam.

The people who supplied the yarn.

The person who transported it.

The people who helped us get it from the interiors of Assam to wherever it needed to go.

And then us — checking it, photographing it, selling it, packing it and sending it to you.

So the next time you receive a little Your order has shipped email from a small brand, remember that there is probably a lot more behind those three words than you see.

And somewhere, someone is probably very happy that you chose their work, maybe it was a sale after many days of not getting one.