we tried a lot of suppliers the first two years. some were great. most were fine. a small amount were bad in surprising ways. here's the actual short list of who we work with now, in 2026.
for the plush + trinkets we use a tiny toy studio in maharashtra. they make in small runs, the finish is clean, and they'll do custom colours without a huge minimum. we've been with them since year one.
for prints we work with a risograph studio in bangalore. small batches, saturated colour, and they tell you exactly which inks went into each pull. nothing mass-printed.
for ceramics — the dishes, the coaster pours — we buy from a two-person studio in himachal whose name we don't share because there isn't enough to go around. sorry. if you ever find them, buy everything.
for the wearables we use a heavier organic cotton from a mill in tirupur. it's the priciest of the lot but it holds a print beautifully and lasts. ₹950 a metre.
for whatever's left over, we use it for samples and gift wraps. nothing wasted.
what we don't buy: anything drop-shipped, anything that pills after one wash, and anything from a supplier who won't tell you who made it.
— aarush