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Community
The Issue of Exploitation and Appropriation of Artisan Textiles
In the age of technology we have more access to information about the world than ever before. The internet has made everything seem smaller and more connected. However, it’s also become a breeding ground for misinformed opinions and blatant lies from politics to the fashion industry. Although more people are able to learn about and […]
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Making
How The Craft Industry is Helping Block Print Artisans Survive
Block printing, also known as hand block printing or woodblock printing, is a centuries-old craft. Similar to ikat fabric, block printing spent its early days in India and China, as well as other East Asian countries. Although the art form most likely originated in China around 220, “it was on the Indian subcontinent where hand-blocked […]
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Community, Guide
Why We Should Stop “Supporting” Artisan Communities
As artisan made, eco-friendly, and sustainability became trending phrases in the conscious fashion sphere, it unbridled major discrepancies in the language used by the brands who want to be relevant and (falsely) market themselves as green. While we can recognise the $20 “organic cotton” shirt as false marketing, we have to ask ourselves how to […]
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Guide
4 Things To Look Out For When Buying Artisan Made Products
The buying and selling of artisan made craftwork has gotten popular over the years, with more and more so-called “artisan made craftwork” making its way onto mainstream e-commerce sites. But are these crafts truly artisan made? Here are 4 things to look out for when shopping for artisan made craftwork so that you can make […]
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Community, Guide
Sustainability in Fashion: Why Artisanal Support is Important
As a purpose-driven business that exists within the fashion world, we believe it is our responsibility to stay informed about the movements happening around us – be it social, environmental, ethical or political – and to do our part in conversations that matter. This is why we are writing a series on Sustainability in Fashion […]
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People
Get To Know: Sonica Sarna, Our Artisan Consultant
It’s been four years since our journey, and looking back, it is the moments in between that move us most. The conversations with our customers, seeing the pride our artisan partners have for their work, and the journey of a collaboration with other designers – they are a grounding reminder of why we do what […]
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People
Master Ji: The Artisan With Dye Stained Fingers
This is Jagdish, but we (and everyone else in the blockprinting workshop) call him Master Ji. As is common in the Indian culture, adding ‘Ji’ conveys a sign of respect and it’s an endearment given to the person by those around them. Master Ji is a fourth generation artisan, and a master blockprinter and dyer […]
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Community
Indian Print Artisans At Work
JAIPUR, INDIA — From the roof of the mansion comes the rhythmic sound of clinking metal. Mujeeb Ullakhan, a wood block carver, sits on the stone floor with a small hammer and delicate chisel. With each tap, he carves part of the outline of a flower into a block of teak. Wood carving is one […]
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Community
How We Choose Our Partners
Artisanship has many associations, with the most generic definition being ‘skill in a particular craft.’ We choose to define artisanship as ‘skill in a craft acquired through generational transfer’, meaning we work mostly with artisans who were taught their skill by their forefathers and grew up around this knowledge. Most of the time these have […]
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Making
5 Lessons In Choosing an Ethical Production Partner
An idea is just 1% of the final product. 99% is execution. Here are some lessons in our journey to finding the partners we work with. 1. Decide your main categories of consideration and what’s important to you. We chose: Business imperatives Product integrity Social/environmental impact Management robustness This is the most fundamental starting point for […]
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Making
The Resort Jumpsuit: An Inside Look
5 years on and we’ve made a jumpsuit for almost every need and occasion. The Classic Jumpsuit made skeptics a believer with its bathroom-friendly design. The All Day Jumpsuit takes you from day to night (hence the name) and is easily the most airplane-friendly style we’ve got. In fact, our #mattertribe community loved it so […]
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Community
Copycat fashion: Can Originality Exist?
The legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel once said: “If you want to be original, be ready to be copied.” There are also those who argue that the entire industry of fashion is built on imitation and appreciation– for example, imitation from the rich history of fashion, and appreciation of different cultures and traditions. However, this […]
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Making
The Making Of: Jacquard in Coimbatore, India
What is Jacquard? The Jacquard craft was invented in 1804 as a mechanical weaving technique used for more complicated patterns such as textiles with intricate designs and patterned knitwear. One of the very first looms with an automatic production function, the Jacquard loom, named after its creator, Joseph Marie Jacquard, is considered to be one […]
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People
Get To Know: Batik Boutique
As a social enterprise in Malaysia, Batik Boutique creates fair trade handmade batik textiles with natural fibres. Their counterpart is a sewing center where they train women from low-income backgrounds in basic sewing techniques while providing childcare and education for their children – all in an effort to sustain their economic freedom. A large part […]
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Community
Size Inclusivity: The Dream and The Challenges
Last year, we wrote a letter addressed to our community on size inclusivity, specifically customers who wear our size 3. It had been a little over a year in the making, and we announced that we were going to be adding our signature styles like the Sideswept Dhoti, Classic Wideleg, Lounge Lunghi, and Modern Monpe […]
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Making
The Making Of: Kantha Embroidery in Odisha, India
Embroidery is a detailed craft of adding decorative accents by putting needle to thread. Kantha is a traditional embroidery craft that began 500 centuries ago in West Bengal and Odisha by means of reusing and recycling dhotis, sarees and other pieces of clothing Bengalis were reluctant to throw away. Essentially, upcycling – the old school […]
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Making
MATTER Turns 5
A couple months ago, the team got together to talk about how we should celebrate our 5th birthday. We’ve always been big on birthdays, from pants parties to a big farewell to our shophouse home in the tailor’s district of Chinatown. But this one feels more significant, and we wanted to go beyond our usual […]
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Making
The Zero Waste Coat: An Inside Look
Introducing: The Zero Waste Coat, made from 30kg of our offcuts and roll-ends and overdyed with natural dyes like kashish, indigo, and common madder. During our trip to India in February 2018, we stopped by a boutique in Jaipur and came across a coat made entirely from offcuts. As chance would have it, Bhaavya, the owner […]
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People
Get To Know: IRO IRO
During our trip to India in February 2018, we stopped by a boutique in Jaipur and came across a coat made entirely from offcuts. As chance would have it, Bhaavya, the owner of the brand was there to share about her collection. As a zero waste fashion brand, IRO IRO takes offcuts that would usually be […]
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Community, Making
Ethnic Print & Tribal Print: Why We Should Stop Using These Terms
We often get emails or messages asking us about the history of the prints we use: if they’re a tribal print or ethnic print, what the meaning is behind them, and the context of their cultural significance. As a brand that works with a curative philosophy inspired by tradition, we source heritage prints and styles while reinterpreting […]
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Community
Ethical Fashion Is A Feminist Issue
Fashion is an industry greatly catered to women, and fuelled by women. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they also make up a large part of the supply chain. 80% of garment factory workers are women (up to 90% in countries where the garment industry are the largest employers). However, the disconnect between the […]
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Making
Meherab and Koya: Coming Full Circle
Textile artisanship is a lens through which we see the universal basics that connect us – the need to express our values, find meaning through storied motifs, and create beauty. We believe in designing from the past, which is why most of our styles are inspired by inspiring heritage silhouettes and our prints are taken […]
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Guide, Making
Why Craft Takes Time
Every piece of craft is an extension of its maker’s life work to master a skill encompassing their own unique signature. When we know the care that goes into a product that takes 120 days to make, passing through more than 10 steps and 20 people in its journey, we understand the love that has […]
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Community
What’s Your Ideal Travel Carry-All?
Happy New Year, #MATTERtribe! 2019’s only just begun and our calendars are already sliding in with travel plans for the year ahead. Beyond our annual visits to our artisan partners in India, we’re also making time for Thailand to explore working with more generational crafts, joining Green Is The New Black in Hong Kong, Malaysia […]
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Making
Rangoli: You Are Welcomed Here
Earlier this year, we spent two weeks in India visiting our artisan partners and documenting the process of their craft. Our first stop was in Hyderabad, a city of pearls known for their biryani and keema samosa; and just an hour drive away was Pochampally – a small town celebrated for its ikat craft. Pochampally […]
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Guide, Making
Get To Know: Our Signature Prints
Every culture has a story to share, and the tradition of storytelling through print has been around for centuries. We work with a curative philosophy inspired by tradition, as we believe that the cultural history of every nation is tied to their textile heritage. It speaks to the reason why we source heritage prints from […]
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Making
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
An open letter to our community with an update on the #MATTERxMIAKODA range: MATTER began with an instinct to bring the beauty of fabric stories to life in a way that was accessible, relatable, and desirable. Stepping into a universe of heritage printing and weaving looms, we quickly fell in love with traditional textiles. The […]
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People
Get To Know: Mr. Sarna, The Founder Of Our Fair Factory
A couple months ago, we spent some time in India to get up close and personal with the production process. Our last stop was Delhi, where we visited our Fair Factory and did exciting things like try out samples of new products we’re planning for and go over different textiles to see what else we […]
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People
A Day In The Life: Khushiram Pandey
5:30am — Before the sun rises. I like the rhythm of starting my day slow and easy. Waking up before the sun comes up, I get ready for an hour before leaving the house to run some errands. 6:30am — Prayer and errands. I walk out to buy milk. On my way back, I visit two temples […]
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Guide
The Creative Director’s Capsule Closet
A couple months ago, we went to India and visited our artisan partners and stitching factory to get up close and personal with the production process. Before we left, the team was talking about the idea of a capsule closet and somehow one thing led to another and I was asked to take on the challenge. […]
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Natural Dye
FOR THE LOVE OF COLOURS We’re adding to our range of tops: natural dyed with indigo, myrobalan, common madder plants, and fermented iron, a parallel of deliberate waiting and patience are the undercurrent necessary to its making. From the 2 days needed to prepare the dye paste (15 for fermented iron), repetitive cycle of […]
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Making
Natural Dye Tops: An Inside Look
10/21/2019 Update: Indigenous Industries is no longer operational and we are no longer working with them. When we first started, we knew what our non-negotiables were: the impact we wanted to achieve, and the processes that had to be in place to achieve them. One of which was our commitment to sustainable production practices. If you’ve […]
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People
Get To Know: Indigenous Industries
10/21/2019 Update: Indigenous Industries is no longer operational and we are no longer working with them. During our time in India we stopped by four cities, one of which was Ahmedabad – home to Indigenous Industries, our artisan partners who created our latest range of natural dye tops. While we were there, we got a closer […]
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Community
We’re Going To India
At the end of the month, we’ll be in India visiting our artisan partners and stitching factory to get up close and personal with the production process. It’s the first time our entire team is traveling together, much less to India, so to say we’re excited is an understatement. The dates are marked in our […]
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#MATTERtribe
OUR COMMON THREAD There is an old adage that says an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances. Our red threads pay tribute to this inspiration, speaking to the connection between the artisan partners, designers and customers that form the #mattertribe community. #MATTERTRIBE We’re big […]
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Community
OUR COMMUNITY Collaboration is the heart of what we do. With 20 collaborations so far, we continue to work with different artisans, designers, and brands, connecting people from different backgrounds to tell their stories through our prints. ARTISAN PARTNERS Textile artisanship is a lens through which we see the universal basics that connect us […]
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Community
F1: A Collaboration
In the last 3 years, we worked with over 8 rural artisan communities in India with over 16 designer collaborations so far. Collaboration is the heart of what we do; every collaboration has been rooted in an appreciation for the value of craft and artisanship, connecting artisans with designers, bridging traditional craft with modern designs […]
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Guide
Jumpsuits You Can Actually Go To The Bathroom In
While designing the silhouette of the jumpsuits, we knew it had to go beyond style. Functionality is a term that has yet to be associated with jumpsuits, and we wanted to change that. So here’s our version — jumpsuits that you can actually go to the bathroom in. Using flexible closure options, the jumpsuits give way to flexibility and […]
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Community
The Warehouse Hotel: A Collaboration
Since we began, it was always our intention to create garments that hold a generation’s craft in its textiles, and a story in its prints. But we knew all along that we wanted to go beyond apparel. As we grew over the years, we explored working with various types of businesses and industries, with each […]
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Making
The Colours Would Tell
If clothes were stories, Indian women would be the best storytellers. For a long time, I was a true believer of monochrome: the less color, the better. But the power of color changed me when I visited India three years ago – the bright pinks, reds, yellows and indigo blues made me feel at home. […]
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Making
What Is A Social Enterprise?
Social businesses and enterprises are on the rise. One of the benefits of the rising tide of capitalism is the realisation that the mechanisms of the free market can be a powerful means to catalyse change. Herald the entry of conscious capitalism, the idea that “business is inherently good because it creates value, it is ethical […]
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Making
Why The World Needs Craft
Written for September’s theme of #sustainablefashion for The Huffington Post, we dig deep for the reasons why we do what we do. Imagine a world where everything that is exchanged, bought, used and consumed is made by machine, on an assembly line. Where every item is judged only on its functionality, valued for its utility, […]
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Guide
Top 5 Things To Keep In Mind When Trying To Be A Socially Responsible Shopper
Hi, I’m Mehendi Siraj, Sustainable Supply Chain Intern at MATTER and also assisting the team in creating an Artisan Impact Metric. Throughout my two months here, I’ve learnt plenty about ethical and sustainable brands and hence the team had me working on this “how to shop ethically guide”. Instead of telling you what to buy […]
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Community
An Interview With Kate Black
In the run-up to Fashion Revolution Week, we feature a cause that MATTER feels passionately for – Conscious Consumerism. Our artisan partners are paid at or above market benchmarks, and the factory that we work with to enable garment production is internationally certified and compliant with labour standards. Over the Easter Weekend, I had the […]
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Making
Red Threads. A Story That We Have Not Yet Told
On every pair of MATTER pants there is a signature stitch of two parallel red threads, a small detail only noticed by those who wear the pant. Customers have come to love this small detail, and ask us why it’s there. There is an old adage that says an invisible red thread connects those who […]
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Making
Pants To See The World In: Ren Ho, Founder of Matter Prints
With a dream to bring textile artisanship mainstream, Renyung Ho founded Matter Prints, a socially motivated lifestyle brand focused on travel ware. Matter Prints relies heavily on artisan knowledge and local input to influence their beautiful designs, creating a collaborative approach that acknowledges the expertise of the artisan community. We recently interviewed Ren about her […]
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Guide
#THEMATTERWAY | The Co-Founder’s Guide To Jaipur
Jaipur is one of the great magical cities of the Golden Triangle in Rajasthan. Much has been written about it, and there is no shortage of materials on how to create your own itinerary in the Pink City, most often mentioning Amber Fort, Hawa Mahal, and the City Palace. Besides these majestic historical monuments, here […]
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Community
FIELDTESTED | Chris Akin, Co-Founder Of The Base Project
Chris is the dynamic serial and social entrepreneur behind The Base Project, a social business that works with artisans in Namibia to create fashion products and invest in community development projects. Founded together with his twin brother Doug, Chris shares with us lessons from his journey and his view on the space between commerce and philanthropy. Share with us the catalyst […]
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Community, Making
A Love Letter To Slow
This is our own love letter to the philosophy of Slow. The idea that less is sometimes more, that consideration and intentionality in every step of the process has intangible ramifications to all involved, and that adhering to natural seasons and a holistic view on production is simply, more human. Slow Style – Seasonless Classics […]
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Making
FIELD TO FABRIC: Weaving A Revolution in Malkha
Mhalka is a movement. We want to democratise the production process, and rework it such that the process of cotton to cloth is entirely a village based activity. Field to fabric as we say. Aug 7 was World Handloom Day, and we were fortunate to be in the presence of the charismatic Uzramma, who met […]
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