Our Story
Somewhere in India, a woman is sitting with thread in her hands.
She is not rushing. The work will not let her. Each stitch she places has been placed before by her mother, by her grandmother, by women whose names have never appeared on any label. What she makes today will travel far from the village where she sits. It will cross oceans. It will hang in a wardrobe in London, in New York, in Melbourne. The person who wears it will likely never know her name. But they will carry her hours. Her patience. Her skill. Every single time they put it on.
That is what Sugrii was built around.
Not a trend. A remembering.
Sugrii began in Mandvi, a small coastal town in Kutch, Gujarat, where embroidery is not a craft you learn, it is something you grow up inside of. Our founder, Varsha J. Odhvani, spent her childhood watching these traditions take shape in the hands of the women around her. Stitch by stitch, season by season, she absorbed what no fashion school teaches, the patience behind real making, and the knowledge that passes only through time and touch.
As she grew older, something became clear. The craft was extraordinary. The artisans behind it were some of the most skilled hands in the world. And yet their work was leaving their villages without recognition, without stability, and without the dignity it deserved. The making survived. But barely.
So Varsha moved to Gandhinagar and built something different. Not a label in the conventional sense. A living workshop, rooted in relationships, where trust is built slowly, where artisan communities are genuine partners, and where every collection begins not with a trend board but with a conversation between maker and designer.
That place became Sugrii.
What we make and why it matters
Every piece at Sugrii starts with the fabric. We work with organic and indigenous cottons, linens, khadi and natural fibres, coloured with dyes drawn from the earth plants, roots, minerals the same sources Indian textile traditions have relied upon for centuries. The hands that weave, dye, and embroider our fabrics are not contractors. They are collaborators. Many of them have practised their craft for decades. Some for their entire lives.
Our pattern-making is built around low-waste cutting. Surplus fabric is never thrown out, it becomes something else. A detail. A textile. A new piece entirely. We call this circular fashion, though in Indian craft culture, it has never needed a name. Repairing, reusing, and respecting materials is simply how things have always been done here. We are not reinventing that. We are carrying it forward.
No two Sugrii garments are exactly alike. Handmade pieces carry the subtle marks of the hands that made them a slight variation in a line, a quiet irregularity in a weave. In a world built on uniformity, we believe that individuality is not a flaw. It is the whole point.
The people this is really about
At Sugrii, fair wages, safe working conditions, and long-term partnerships with artisan communities are not talking points. They are the structure the brand is built on. When the women and men behind our pieces know their work is reaching people honestly with full credit, with recognition, with care, something shifts. Their pride grows. Their confidence grows. The work itself gets better, because it is made by someone who knows it matters.
One of our artisans once told us: "This pattern has been in my family for four generations. When I see it on a garment that travels to someone in another city, another country, I feel that it is still alive. That we are still here."
That is what every Sugrii purchase supports. Not just clothing. A lineage. A livelihood. A craft that deserves to survive on its own terms.
For the woman who wears it
Sugrii is made for women who choose their clothes the way they choose everything that matters. Slowly. Deliberately. With full attention to where it comes from, whose hands shaped it, and what values were woven into it.
Getting dressed, when it is done with intention, is not a small thing. It is a quiet choice to participate in something built with integrity. To carry the hours of someone whose skill and care went into every thread before it ever reached you.
What We Stand For
Handmade, always. Every Sugrii garment is made by hand, by skilled artisans working within their own communities and traditions.
Natural, from the start. We use organic and indigenous fibres enhanced with natural dyes — no shortcuts in materials, no compromises in process.
Waste is not an option. Our production is built around low-waste cutting and circular use of every material we work with.
Fair, not just in writing. Fair wages and safe, respectful working conditions are non-negotiable at every stage of our supply chain.
Slow, on purpose. We do not follow seasons. We do not chase trends. We make pieces that are meant to last in quality, in relevance, and in meaning.
A story that started long before us
Indian textile traditions are thousands of years old. The techniques our artisans use, the embroidery, the natural dyeing, the handloom weaving, carry the memory of every generation that practised them before. Sugrii does not own these traditions. We are simply honoured to work within them, to help sustain the communities that hold them, and to bring them to people around the world who value what real making looks like.
To wear Sugrii is to wear something that was already ancient before it was made for you. A story that began long before us, and continues because of the choices we make together.
Explore our collections at www.sugrii.com Follow the making: @sugrii.studio