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Our Journey to India

Our Journey to India - THULI

People are what makes a brand.

Thuli is a slow fashion brand that celebrates the beauty of the world around us. Traditional textile techniques are at the heart of our brand, with our designs offering a modern take on these ancient crafts that dates back generations.

Our artisans make Thuli what it is, which is reflected in our name. Thuli, meaning “drop” in Tamil, represents our commitment to sparking positive change for artisans and traditional craftsmanship across India. 
At Thuli, we want to make you a part of our community by taking you behind the scenes on our journey, from our design development to our traditional textile techniques and the inspiration behind our brand. This design note reflects on our journey to India and the start of our design development. 
Our Trip to India 
You can live your entire life in India and still not get to experience everything it has to offer. During our first Thuli trip to India, we visited villages across West Bengal, Kutch (Ajrakhpur) Gujarat, and Bagru Rajasthan. 
You never know where inspiration may come from, and this trip, a mixture of personal and business, was a search to explore the boundless possibilities of design and craftsmanship.

Our trip wasn’t just Thuli related. The main purpose of our visit was for our best friend’s traditional Gujarati wedding, a chance to immerse ourselves in the vibrant culture by relishing authentic food, doing baraati dances (a wedding procession for the groom), and experiencing the fun festivities.

Meeting Local Artisans

While it wasn’t Day 1 of Thuli, it was one of the first major steppingstones to creating our brand. Our mission at Thuli is to provide meaningful employment and opportunities to artisans and their families.

You can’t appreciate just how special these artisans are until you see them working up close. These crafts have survived for hundreds of years, handed down from one generation to the next. You truly get to see an artist at work, bringing a design to life before your very eyes, using techniques that date back thousands of years.

When we say our products are made by hand, they really are. Each garment is handmade with love, from its hand block printing to its handloom weaving.

You’re not just supporting a small business. You’re helping a community of artisans and their families to thrive by choosing slow, ethical, and eco-friendly fashion. We all have a role in safeguarding these traditional crafts for the future. Meet some of our traditional artisans in this behind-the-scenes video on our Instagram.

During this visit, we started to work on the design development for our samples. You might recognize a few familiar pieces in our Instagram content. This trip was only the beginning, and we can’t wait to take you on the next steps of the journey.