Denim and indigo

Most of the collection is cut from two things: denim at 12 oz and cotton dyed to indigo. They are close cousins. Both are twill or plain weave cotton, both take the same dye, and both soften and fade in the same direction.

Why twelve ounces

Weight is how cloth falls. A light denim, around 6 oz, moves like a shirt. It drapes, it clings, and it forgets a fold in an hour. At 12 oz, denim stands off the body. It holds an edge, and a seam keeps its angle through a day of walking.

That matters for the tiers on the Baoli skirt. Each step is cut on the bias, and a bias cut is the most mobile line in cloth. In a light fabric the steps would blur into one soft drape. In 12 oz they stay separate: a step, a pause, a step. The weight is what makes the stair visible.

What the wash does

A rinse wash keeps the denim stiff and dark, close to raw. The tiers keep their height, and the hem swings as a block. A stone wash relaxes the cloth. The same cut falls lower and wider, and the steps flatten toward a single line. Neither is better. The Sheesh jeans use a light wash because the pleated panel needs to fan and release, and a stiffer cloth would hold it shut.

Indigo cotton

Where we want less weight, we use cotton dyed to the same indigo, around 5 to 6 oz. It carries the colour and loses the stiffness. The Bandhani halter is cut from it, because a knotted resist surface needs a cloth that will gather.

How it ages

Indigo sits on the surface of the thread. It wears off at the folds, the cuffs and the seams, in the places a body moves. After a season the piece has a map of its owner. We cut for that: seams placed where the wear is welcome, and hems left to fade.

Wash it cold, inside out, and dry it in shade.