But How Much Did You Pay the Weaver?” — What Goes Into the Price of a Handloom Saree

One question I hear quite often at exhibitions is:

“Can you give me a better price?”

Sometimes it is followed by:

“But you must have bought this from the weaver for much less.”

I understand where the question comes from. When you buy directly from a weaver, you might imagine that you should be able to get the same price from a small brand that works with weavers.

But the price you pay a weaver and the price you pay a brand are not the same thing.

There is a lot that happens between a saree leaving a loom in the interiors of Assam and reaching your wardrobe.

Finding the right weavers takes work

The first step is finding the right people to work with.

Our sarees come from weavers in Assam, often from places that are not exactly easy to get to. Finding them can mean research, conversations, recommendations and, eventually, travelling to meet them.

And when I say travelling, I don't mean driving across town.

You may fly into Guwahati and then travel another 50, 80 or even 100 kilometres into the interiors.

You spend time meeting weavers, looking at their work, understanding what they make and figuring out whether their quality and way of working are right for you.

That relationship is part of the work too.

Then comes the actual design

A saree doesn't always begin with, “I'll take whatever you have.”

Sometimes we are looking for a particular weave, colour, texture or combination. Sometimes we work with a weaver to develop something specifically for us.

That means thinking about what our customers will actually wear, what colours make sense, what works with the fabric and weave, and what fits the aesthetic of the brand.

The weaver brings their skill and knowledge of the loom.

We bring our own work to the process too.

And then we have to get it here

Once the saree is made, it still has to travel.

It needs to be collected, transported, packed and eventually shipped to wherever we are selling from.

Transport costs money.

Packaging costs money.

And there is always the possibility of delays, damage or other unexpected costs along the way.

The price of the saree doesn't stop being relevant once the weaver has finished weaving it.

We check every piece

We don't simply receive a bundle of sarees and put them straight onto the website.

We look at the fabric, the weave, the finishing and the overall quality.

If something isn't right, we have to deal with it.

This is particularly important with handloom.

Small variations are part of what makes a handwoven saree what it is. But there is a difference between a beautiful handmade irregularity and a quality issue.

Knowing that difference comes from experience and attention.

Then there is everything you actually see online

You see a saree on a website.

But before you can see it, someone has to photograph it.

Someone has to steam or iron it, style it, write about it, measure it, upload the photographs, create the product page and make sure the website actually works.

There are payment fees, website costs, packaging materials, shipping supplies, marketing and everything else that comes with running an online store.

And yes, all of this takes time.

A lot of it is invisible when you are simply looking at a saree on a screen.

Exhibitions are another whole cost

When you see us at an exhibition, there is even more behind that table.

There is the booth fee.

There is transporting the stock.

There is setting everything up.

There are displays, tables, racks, packaging and all the little things you need to make a booth work.

And then there is the day itself.

Standing at an exhibition for hours is work. Talking to customers, explaining the fabric, answering questions, packing purchases and then taking everything down at the end of the day.

The saree has to cover more than just what was paid to make it.

And then there is the part you don't see at all

Running a small brand means doing a little bit of everything.

Research. Sourcing. Design.

Quality control.

Photography.

Writing.

Website management.

Customer service.

Packing orders.

Marketing.

Bookkeeping.

Planning exhibitions.

And constantly figuring out what to do next.

Some of these things have a direct cost.

Others cost something just as valuable: time.

So what are you actually paying for?

When you buy one of our handloom sarees, you are paying for the saree and the work of the weaver who made it. But you are also paying for everything that allows that saree to travel from a loom in Assam to you. 

For us, raw materials can account for around 50% of the cost of a saree. That isn't a small number. The yarn itself is expensive, before the weaving, transport, design, quality checks or anything else has even happened.

I remember one exhibition where a woman who told me she was a teacher asked me to sell one of our sarees for less than half the price I was asking.

It wouldn't even have covered the cost of the yarn. I won't lie. I was offended. 

Not because she asked for a discount. I understand that people have different budgets, and there is nothing wrong with asking.

What bothered me was that I had just explained the whole process to her and she wanted to simply cut the price by more than half. 

This isn't unique to us.

It is true for most small businesses working with artisans.

A product doesn't magically go from weaver → customer.

There is an entire supply chain in between.

And if you really wanted to buy a saree at exactly what it cost us to buy it from the weaver, you'd also have to take on everything else that we do.

Fly to Guwahati.

Find the weaver.

Travel into the interiors.

Spend the time researching and developing the right pieces.

Arrange transport.

Check the quality.

Bring everything back.

Photograph it.

Build a website.

Find customers.

Set up a stall.

Pack orders.

Answer messages.

And hope that eventually, someone buys it.

That is the difference between buying from a weaver and buying from a brand that works with weavers.

We don't expect everyone to understand every cost that goes into running a small business.

But we do hope that the next time you look at the price of a handloom saree and think, “I know you didn't pay that much for it,” you remember that the price of the saree is only one small part of the story.