Hem and Her delivers fashion at the niche intersection of durability, luxury, and everyday work-wear, which can also, with a bit of accessorising, translate seamlessly into evening-wear. Shubhavi Talwar, the brand’s founder, has consciously drowned out the noise of exponential growth, financial returns, going viral, and eye ball grabbing gimmicks as a business strategy. She adheres to the vision she has nurtured over the years; one which does not compromise on craftsmanship, fabric quality, and size inclusivity. In her own words, “Even if it is just 10 garments, they must stay in the buyer’s mind; they must resonate with the brand.” The idea was to cater to women of all ages and sizes: “I had exhibited in Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. What I observed was that the standard L size varies in different regions. I came up with silhouettes that fit into the criteria of size inclusivity. So girls of 22 to women of 55 and even 60 are my clients. The silhouettes are classic and appeal to all,” she says.
Hem and Her champions sustainability across aspects — here, in packaging
For Shubhavi, the fabrics of choice are linen and cotton. She says, “I think linen is one fabric that you can go for in winter and summers and especially hand-woven ones; they feel so soft against the skin.” She sources from Ludhiana, Amritsar and down south from Chennai. “We wanted to work with exclusive fabrics to remain true to the basic ideology of the brand. Putting out collections every seventh or eighth week is something I don’t stand by. We take sustainability in a very different light. Our clothes come in neutral colours, our packaging is sustainable; we want the garment to stay in the wardrobe for many, many years,” she says.
The slow pace of the brand’s output results at the level of maintaining quality and of perfection of technique. Shubhavi explains, “I have always talked about the stretching and shrinking of the garments, which is the first thing we do with the fabric. I don’t want them to be dry-cleaning only because they are meant to be for everyday use. So you can hand-wash them without worrying about fading or shrinking. Also, the internal finishing of a garment speaks volumes about the craftsmanship. So we take extra care to ensure that there are no raw edges; focusing on clean seams, hems and linings. Even the details of pockets take labour. Something as simple as a shirt can take 16-20 hours of construction.”
Timeless silhouettes, fabric, and appeal
With such attention to detail, you would think Shubhavi has a team of at least 20 sharing the load. “No. Right now we are team of five people. Four of us are working on construction of the garment, while the designing is done by me. Followed by 10 tailors who do the finishing,” she says. The brand is about two and half years old but has built a trusting clientele over its young life. She says, “We take a momentary pause and reflect after every six months to understand where we have come and how far; also the techniques and the processes that need to change. This is important to stay true to what I initially wanted the brand to look like. I don’t want my brand to just be curating silhouettes according to the next coming trend.”
So what is the philosophy that ties all of these elements together? “I remember telling one of my professors that when you tell me to create something which is different, which is out of the box, I don’t understand how to do it. She answered that you don’t have to always create something out of the box. You can stand within the box. That stuck with me. I have always been someone who is very traditional. Can you believe it? I can grasp new knowledge and completely understand it but I never felt the need to do it. Things which take me 30 minutes by hand took me two hours on software.”
If you look at the socials of her brand, the understated silhouettes, pastels and restrained marketing are its defining features; this along with her approach and production pace begs the question of how the brand exists within an ever-changing and competitive market. “I’m still trying to make peace with the fact that I have to do influencer marketing. Everybody is doing it but I don’t understand why my clothes should depend upon some person wearing them. However, there are a lot of influencers who are exclusive with the brands they pick. So I’m going to work with such people. I am aware that it is a privilege to have these choices as a brand owner, to not just care about the money coming in. But how do I put it? It is just the love for my work that I don’t mind how commercial it is, how soon,” she says.
Utilitarian, yet elegant: Apparel which appeals to modern women across ages.
Shubhavi has some things to confess about herself which may be surprising at first, but on a closer look at her journey and the brand, they make perfect sense. She reveals, “To be very honest, I’m not a very driven person. I’m very much about the everyday rituals, the leisure of it all. When I’m working it is just out of happiness. It is not because I want to be an entrepreneur, these days you’ve got to make yourself sound like that, but I think I’m happy with whatever I’m doing at my own pace. I don’t believe in forgetting one’s roots when it comes to clothing. It is okay to work around classics. That is where my brand truly stands and it gave me a lot of peace when I had launched Hem and Her with the idea of elevating basics.”
What emerges is a calming yet active, traditional yet forward looking, utilitarian yet elegant collection which appeals to the modern woman across ages, regions and professions. As Shubhavi understands, the simplest thing is the hardest to get right; she continues to lead Hem and Her, along with the rest of us, towards making fashion choices unmoved by mindless consumption and fading fads.
Words by Ayesha Suhail.
Feature image courtesy Hem and Her.
