SHOP DETAIL

INTRODUCTION

“As modernity sets in, bringing in its wake, an influx of cultural and social changes, bulwarking social status and power became the putative purpose for existence of fashion. The sartorial assets, lovingly left to us by our ancestors, sit at the back of our closets, gathering dust, evanescing, while our latest and most luxurious conquest gets the place of honour. It is not wrong to want to be different from the mass, to choose fashion as a means to claim our status in society, but its terribly sad to do it at the expense of forsaking one’s own tradition and culture. What we could do, rather, is try and change the ephemeral nature of fashion by using the timeless beauty of indigenous textiles.”

Khumanthem is a fashion brand, established in the year 2014, aiming for the luxury end of the market. The brand’s pledge is to establish lasting relationships with its clients by not only supplying high quality, one of a kind, statement pieces, but also by engaging them with the beautiful ancient culture of the North-east. Indigenous handloom and handicraft is the backbone of the
brand.

Business Philosophy:
The brand believes in individualism and being different. It does not believe in mass production. It believes that every single human being is different, and it is this difference that inspires the brand. The fashion industry is a fast growing industry. Born of creativity and authenticity, it is now increasingly becoming technology mediated and fiercely competitive. In such an industry, establishing meaningful relationships become, but an implausible notion. But We, at Khumanthem, believe otherwise. We strive to bring our clients closer to the true heroes of the brand, the local artisans. Every piece of indigenous handloom has a story to tell. It is these stories, behind every motif, every textile, that will ultimately be the binding force between the artisans and consumers, not as two separate strata of the same glamour industry, but as one entity who understands, feels and cherishes the depth and history behind every handloom creation.

Brand USP
The strength of the company lies in its ability to give indigenous textiles a fresh breath of life through the presentation of the same in a unique and modern context. Its strength therefore, also lies in local artisans, and the woman folk of Manipur in particular, to whom the indigenous craftsmanship was handed down from generation to generation. Compared to other Indian textiles, the hand loom industry of Manipur is still in its nascent stage. The brand has the advantage of being a pioneer in introducing this beautiful handloom heritage to the world of fashion. Khumanthem strictly adheres to its “NO TO PLASTIC” policy. Plastic buttons, zippers and other types of trims are replaced by eco-friendly materials such as wood, shells, metals, and even unconventional resources like coconut shells and bamboo Khumanthem creates pieces that blurs the line between Prêt & Couture. Each piece can be dressed up or dressed down.
Every Khumanthem piece is hand-woven. The brand does not use ready-made and machine-made fabrics from the market for its collections.

*Each textile is carefully planned and designed by the R&D team and then woven by the local artisans before every collection.
(* Every fabric used by Khumanthem is hand-woven, except for the polyester linings used in some of the garments. The brand is currently working with local weavers to create a more eco-friendly fabric to replace ready-made polyester ones) Hand embroidery is the only form of embroidery that is practised at Khumanthem. We feel machine embroidery, although more cost effective and less time consuming, does not measure up to the intricacy, detailing and above all, the ‘humanness’ that one finds in hand embroidered pieces.