NLEON sets are made for us by trusted manufacturing partners in India. We choose the designs and fabrics, check every piece and pack each order ourselves. Here is how traditional block-printed fabric, like the prints in our collection, is made.
1. It begins on the loom
Chanderi is traditionally woven on handlooms, thread by thread, in a silk and cotton blend. The weave is light enough to let air through and strong enough to hold its drape, which is why it feels so easy to wear all day.
2. Washed before anything else
Raw cotton is washed and soaked to soften it and open up the fibres. This is the quiet step nobody sees, but it is what lets the colour sink in evenly later, and what keeps the fabric from shrinking out of shape after you buy it.
3. A block carved by hand
Every print starts as a drawing that a craftsman carves into a block of wood with fine chisels. One motif can take days to carve, and a single design often needs a separate block for each colour.
4. Pressed, one stamp at a time
The printer dips the block in colour, lines it up by eye, and presses it down with the heel of the hand. Then the next one, and the next, row after row across the length of the fabric.
5. Why no two are the same
Look closely and you will see it: a petal a little darker here, a stem that sits slightly off there. These are not flaws. They are the marks of a human hand, and the reason your piece will never be an exact copy of anyone else’s.
6. Cut and stitched by our partners
Once the print has dried and set, the fabric is cut and stitched into kurtas, pants and dupattas. Our sets are produced in limited runs, so when a print sells out, it may not come back.
Caring for hand-made fabric
Wash gently in cold water, dry in the shade and iron on the reverse. Hand block prints can release a little colour in the first wash, so wash them separately the first time.
Images illustrate the traditional process.