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The Avishya Story: A Journey through the Looms of India

The inspiration for Avishya did not come from corporate boardrooms or from presentation decks.  The inspiration came in the dusty hinterlands of Rural India when our founders Jawahar and Kalai were doing a consulting assignment for a client based in Chennai.

During their travels across the villages of India for this assignment, they discovered something magical… a wide variety of extraordinarily beautiful crafts and handlooms that were for long only known to a privileged few.  

They also noticed that the highly skilled weavers who had inherited the craft from their forefathers were toiling in the looms to create these masterpieces but unfortunately their skills were not appreciated by the booming middle class of India. This was because a lot of the urban working women had not grown up appreciating these crafts.

Thus originated the idea of Avishya… The portal was set up in the year 2016 and aimed to create an online platform that would showcase these beautiful handloom sarees from close to 100 craft clusters across India. The sarees were then made available to Handloom aficionados across India and around the world.

From Curation to Creation: Handloom Reimagined

Over time we realized that for the handloom to actually survive and thrive we needed to move beyond occasion wear.  Handloom garments needed to be available for both men & women. And had to be wearable for every part of their life – at offices, during lunch out with friends, casual evenings, PTA meetings and more.

To achieve this objective, we set up our own design and tailoring unit. Our team of designers and tailors work with authentic handloom fabric and convert them into a range of ready to wear garments that will fit into contemporary Indian wardrobes.

We now have a comprehensive collection of handloom readymades

  • For Women: Avishya's Readymade Collection for Women now includes Kurtas, Kurtis, Dresses, Co-ords and Kaftans. introduced a specialized line of Saree Blouses—tailored to perfection to complement the heritage of the drape.
  • For Men: We launched our Handloom Shirt collection, bringing the breathable comfort and unique texture of artisanal fabric to menswear.

By crafting these everyday essentials in-house, we ensure that the "soul" of the handloom remains intact while making it relevant for the office, the weekend, and everything in between. We believe that a handloom garment is not just a piece of clothing; it is a piece of history made functional for today

A Global Community of Craft Lovers

What began as a small vision in Chennai has grown into a global community. We are proud to share the work of over 50 weaving clusters with customers across the world.

What began in Chennai has grown into a global movement for sustainable fashion. Whether you are in a bustling metro in India or living across the seas, we bring the loom directly to your doorstep.

  • Across India: We provide reliable shipping to every corner of India, from major cities to the smallest towns,with a focus on safe, insured delivery.
  • Around the World: We are proud to serve the Indian diaspora and craft lovers in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, GCC Countries, Singapore, and Malaysia. Our reach even extends to heritage hubs as far as Fiji and Reunion Island.

Experience Avishya in Person: Our Chennai Store

While we love our digital home, we know that to truly appreciate a hand-woven fabric, sometimes you need to feel the grain of the thread. We are thrilled to have opened our first flagship store in Chennai.

Located at TTK Road, Alwarpet, it is a space where you can experience the Avishya journey in person, experience our heritage handloom weaves, explore our latest fitted collections, and witness how we are preserving the handloom legacy through contemporary design.

Meet the Founders

H Jawahar Singh | Co-Founder Jawahar spent 25 years building iconic brands like Club Mahindra and MRF Funskool. For the last 12 years, he has dedicated his life to entrepreneurship in the handloom domain. As CEO, he combines his strategic background with a deep, on-the-ground knowledge of India’s weaving clusters to drive Avishya’s sourcing and vision.

Kalaivani Sadagopan | Co-Founder A pioneer of Indian e-commerce, Kalai was instrumental in the early success of CaratLane.com. With over a decade of experience as an entrepreneur at Avishya, she bridges the gap between traditional craft and modern technology, ensuring that every handcrafted piece meets the highest standards of quality and customer experience.

In the past, I had purchased few Saris from a different company and its material wasn’t very good. Recently, I had purchase 3 Saris from Avishya and it was very good quality material. Much prettier and very fine quality.
The delivery was very quick and the team kept me updated with WhatsApp messages and emails. The customer service is really good. Thank you so much.

Navdeep Sidhu, Canada