Today we’d like to introduce you to Shriya Samavai Manian.
Shriya, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my label SAMAVAI in 2019 when I was living in New York City and working for the brand Supreme. I had run two clothing lines during college and always enjoyed the process of garment creation – from inception and design to the production of the finished product.
After working in fashion for several years, it had become very apparent to me how modern fashion — both luxury and fast fashion — was negatively impacting our environment and the people who make our clothes. I wanted to start a label where ethical production and upcycled fabrics were priorities.
My family is from India and my mother has a vast collection of saris, many of which are older than I am. On a trip to India for my cousin’s wedding, I asked my mom if I could take one of her saris and make a shirt out of it, just as an experiment. She gave me a gorgeous cream and forest green silk sari that had some signs of wear, and I had a tailor in my family’s hometown of Chennai make two shirts out of the material. Reusing sari fabric for other garments is not unheard of in India – many people will take an old sari and have it stitched into other Indian outfits, but I think the concept of making more Western-style garments is still not very common.
Over the past four years, I have been collecting vintage saris from my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, and various women in the community. It’s been so special to work with material that has been worn and loved and breathe new life into it. All the garments and accessories I make for SAMAVAI are created from upcycled and deadstock material, and I’m going to be moving into working with handloom and small-batch artisans as well.
I now run the brand out of Los Angeles and all of my items are made in India and LA.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Running any small business is a challenge, and I’m still in the early years of SAMAVAI and figuring out how to build the brand. It can be hard to prioritize what to work on each day or week — between design, production, maintaining the website, working markets and fairs, social media marketing, and other tasks, it’s a challenge to figure out where to put my energy.
I am not trained as a designer either – I studied Art History and Business in college – so there are a lot of technical skills I am still developing and learning.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
SAMAVAI creates garments and accessories from upcycled Indian saris and other South Asian fabrics. We specialize in unique, one-of-a-kind garments that come with a history — most of our materials have been previously worn and loved. We are known for our short sleeve buttondown silk shirts that are made for all genders and feature bright colors and patterns woven by artisans in India.
I am most proud of the response from the South Asian community and queer community – people really cherish the garments and understand the love and work that goes into making each piece. I’m nonbinary and have always struggled to find Indian clothes that I feel work with my person style, and taking a traditionally feminine fabric like the sari and turning it into a traditionally masculine silhouette like a collared shirt has been the perfect balance of what I and many other trans or nonbinary South Asians are looking for.
I’m excited to see lots of brands work with upcycled and deadstock material – there is so much fabric that already exists in the world that we can use to create something new.
What makes you happy?
I’m the happiest in India – I love spending time with my grandmother and other relatives who live there. It’s so fun to hear stories of how they grew up and the trouble they got into. The culture is so rich and the food is amazing, of course. I love going to temples and walking along the beach. I feel the most like myself there, very grounded in who I am.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samavai.world
- Instagram: @samavai.world
- Other: tiktok: @samavai.world
Image Credits
Shriya Portrait credit: Maya Wali Richardson Photo of the shirt display/pop up shop credit: Kelsey Hart All other photos credit: SAMAVAI
