Last month, 16 ready-to-wear garments by the new label, Selvedge, cropped up at the Yali store, an online platform supported by The Registry of Sarees. By mid-April, the capsule collection had gained curiosity and customers. 

Selvedge is an interesting story. The upshot of a collaboration between The Registry of Sarees and Udaanta—a trust to promote fair and decentralised cotton production and processing—Selvedge’s  capsule range of jackets, tops, dresses, trousers and skirts are produced from naturally brown, organic desi cotton with bolts of selvedge details dyed in indigo and alizarin. The term ‘selvedge’ refers to the edge on either side of the textile and is its strongest part, preventing it from fraying. “And yet it remains hidden in the seam. I’ve highlighted the detail in the collection as a hidden metaphor to celebrate the weavers at the Janapada Seva Trust in Melkote, who have worked on fabric,” says Priyanka Jayanth, 25, the label’s designer.