CHHAPA – Ahmedabad based sustainable clothing brand stamps your imagination with natural colors
Converting scraps of cotton into canvas, CHHAPA, a family-run startup from Ahmedabad is a sustainable clothing brand which has long been employing the age-old hand block printing technique into their product range with the yearning to work with artisan community.
Wood carving is one of the significant steps in the Indian tradition of hand-block printing, which for centuries has adorned royal robes, religious clothes. Every process of block printing – from drawing to tracing the design, carving the block, stretching the fabric, making the colour, printing on the fabric, washing the fabric, drying the fabric involves the deftness of human hands.
The sustainable clothing and accessories brand was founded by Shipa Patel in 2013 with a store in Ahmedabad as well as online merchandise platform. They aim to revive hand block printing and support artisans, while offering customers quirky and unique designs.
As Sustainability is the essence of Chhapa — they use fabrics like cotton and khadi, as well as natural or azo-free dyes. They also try to reduce waste as much as they can, upcycling fabric where possible by making accessories like pouches, bags, and more with leftover fabric.
The brand’s unique selling point includes the alluring design of garbs under reasonable pricing with motifs like elephants, sunglasses, and more carved into the wood blocks, bringing a modern spin to the traditional hand block printing technique, and appealing to a younger audience.
Working with more than 25 artisans now, the brand has managed to establish a credible annual revenue, of which 25 per cent goes directly to artisans. Besides this they also offer their artisans free health check-ups and other financial benefits.
