Founders' Note

A Note from Priya Gupta

I didn't grow up dreaming of starting a fashion brand. I was good at numbers, spreadsheets, and the structured world of finance. For over a decade, that was my world.

But somewhere around year thirteen, I realized I was stuck in a pattern. The work was predictable. The days blurred together and an absence, that quiet lack of meaning, started to feel heavier than any paycheck could balance.

Shubhojeet and I always had an attraction and a sense of admiration towards handloom. Not as a fashion trend, but as an actual love. We'd find ourselves drawn to crafts. We'd spend money on pieces we genuinely cared about. But here's what bothered me: I didn't really understand why I loved them. Was this real handloom or powerloom? Why did prices vary so wildly? What made one saree worth three times another?

And when I tried to buy online, I'd feel anxious. Would it fit? Would the colour match the photos? Would I regret it? I realized I wasn't alone in feeling this way, so many women I knew loved handloom but felt intimidated by it, uncertain, sometimes ripped off. 

Then came the moment that changed everything. Shubhojeet and I were sitting in our regular Thursday coffee spot, and I said something I'd been thinking for months: "I don't want to do this anymore. I want to build something that actually matters."

That’s how the inception of Sutra happened, and along with it a vision. We sat with weavers, watched their hands, listened to their struggles. I learned that every imperfection is a signature, that sarees take weeks because every motif is hand-placed, that weavers' children are leaving the craft because it's not stable income. I also realized I didn't just want to buy from artisans—I wanted to show up for them, consistently.

That's when Sutra became real—not as a business idea, but as a responsibility. Every piece would be designed with two questions: 

• Can an artisan make this with dignity and fair pay?
• Will a customer actually wear this, love it, and wear it again?

I learned that "affordable luxury" isn't cutting corners—it's smart sourcing, direct relationships, and refusing unnecessary markup. I learned that transparency builds trust in ways marketing never will.

Walking away from finance was hard. But the moment a customer wrote, "I wore this to work, and three people asked where I got it. I felt beautiful and proud," I knew we'd made the right choice.

That's what Sutra is for me: the bridge I wished existed. And now I get to build it every day for women like the person I was—confused, curious, wanting to believe in what she's buying, but not quite sure how.