Everything You Should Know About Parvai & Our Prices

Pricing a Parvai Sari

Every Parvai sari is priced based on how most businesses work. However, the bulk of our cost goes towards the cost of raw materials, logistics & dyeing and weaver salaries. A very small percentage goes towards design development & our profits. We usually provide a breakdown of the cost for most saris upon request. There are several factors that impact the cost.

Firstly, we believe in fair wages for good work. Challenging work comes at a cost and we believe in empowering our people with salaries that justify their effort & time. We do not think we have reached the ideal salary (when we benchmark weaver wages to salaries in IT & other professions) however, we hope we are bridging the gap, slowly & steadily.

Secondly, we do not compromise on raw materials. Be it the silk we use or the zari, we endeavor to procure the best quality available today. As far as possible, we do not use commercially treated & synthetic yarns. We believe in going back to the basics. However, this path is not always easy to walk.

• Living Wages – What You Should Know

“It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford

Handloom lovers often lament about the state of the weaving community and believe the answer to their woes lie in increased purchase. While patronage is definitely a key factor, the wages paid to warpers, dyers, helpers & weavers is so below minimum wages that some people even choose construction & farming jobs over weaving.

Valuing the time of weavers & recognizing their contribution by way of fair compensation has been an area that we been working on. It remains our key motto to restore dignity, pride & help the communities realize their financial goals by providing a living wage. A living wage is defined as one which should enable the earner to provide for himself and  his family not only the bare essentials of food, clothing and shelter but a  measure of frugal comfort including education for his children, protection  against ill-health, requirements of essential social needs and a measure of  insurance against the more important misfortunes including old age*.

We have also been able to realize craft excellence comes when the need to create more is replaced by the need to create something truly superlative. Powered by the knowledge & design inputs that our design team brings, we believe stunning heirloom pieces can be crafted with effort from all of us. And their heirloom saris have to be worn with pride not just for the design & technical excellence but also for the happiness that it has brought to an entire value chain.

•  Quality of Raw Materials – Are They Important?

We are well aware that the online medium has it’s drawbacks. For instance, two saris may look the same in pictures but may have been crafted using different materials. Often, commercially produced silk & cotton yarns are used to warp saris. Not only do such imported yarn bring down the pricing but also help speed up the set-up of looms. Semi-pure zari is used to bring down the price further. There are even pre-dyed & treated yarns now available. Every day we go on step further with man’s ingenuity to invent new methods & processes.

However are these good or bad? While one may argue machines have replaced humans in most industries when there are questions about handloom being considered not just an industry or livelihood but also a craft sector, one might want to ponder about the possible ramifications of mechanizing these processes. Further, most of these processes while saving time & money are harsh on the environment. The cost benefit kicks in when produced & bought in bulk there by encouraging a mass production ecosystem.

At Parvai, we go the extra mile to ensure pure silk & zari are used. Even if this means procuring zari from one cluster for usage at another. Where ever possible, we use locally produced, high quality silk & cotton. We procure organic cotton in bulk for usage in our saris. Our zaris are always pure even in our cottons. Are these the very best? One can never know what equates to the best especially in today’s day & age, however we do aspire to use the best we can lay our hands on. For we believe when the quality of raw materials is compromised, so is the end product. We would like our saris to be considered family heirlooms & be lovingly passed from one generation to another. And to ensure our saris are the best, we do not compromise on the yarn & zari.

• Slow & Meaningful Weaving

Our philosophy is to produce slowly but meaningfully, luxuriously but with kindness. Slow weaving does not mean the pace of weaving is slow. But instead, we avoid mechanical interventions. In a nation of billions, every employment opportunity becomes vital. By avoiding machines for warping, we have managed to provide employment opportunities to old people who are traditionally engaged in warping for instance. We dye only as per need – thereby avoiding over production & stock issues. Dyeing is well known to cause pollution to the environment & we do choose natural dyes wherever possible or work with the likes of Bodhi Studio to ensure we cause as little harm as possible to our planet. Since we do not produce anything in excess, we dye as per our needs even if this means we pay more to maintain this position. We feel by encouraging dyeing in large quantities we indirectly encourage mass production & fast fashion. However, none of these drive the price down but in fact do the opposite. However, we believe this is a small price to pay for us to protect our planet.

Since we do not produce more than one sari of a particular color and very limited saris in the same design, we frequently change loom set-up. Commercially, once a jacquard loom is set up, weavers weave as many as 50-100 saris to maximise the set-up & loom cost. Again, weaving just how much is needed would mean we produce less but we are proud to produce less.

•  Hyper Customization

We tell our patrons, only sky is the limit to what we can weave and no design or color combination is impossible. We are happy customize every butta & inch of the sari as per our patron’s request. This level of customization would involve design intervention & time investment from our master weavers. We enjoy working on special commissions as it gives us a chance to understand our patrons better. And we love how involved patrons become when they are given an opportunity to be a part of the entire journey. Many of our patrons feel extremely emotional at the end of the project – almost as if they have given birth to a child.

Commissioned orders bring fresh perspective to the table. Our weavers get to try new ideas & in turn leading to skill development. In fact, every new project is treated like an exam and we work diligently to make sure the sari lives up to the patron’s dream. However, we also want the labor & effort for such projects sufficiently compensated.

• Price Changes

Parvai does not procure raw materials in bulk. We buy from time to time as per our needs. This means we neither get to enjoy a bulk discount or block a certain quantity at a certain price. Recent volatility in the market would mean you may notice a 5-10% difference in pricing. We do not wish to mark up the prices unfairly to budget for such surges and you might hence notice a change in prices occasionally. We urge you to refer to the latest price on the website & rest assured, we endeavor to bring only the best to you, including a competitive pricing wherever & whenever possible.

Source:

• * https://www.mbaknol.com/human-resource-management/concepts-of-minimum-wage-fair-wage-and-living-wage/