Our Story

We started because we couldn't find what we were looking for.

I've loved handloom my whole life. But every time I tried to buy a real one, not a powerloom imitation, not something "handloom-inspired" - I hit a wall.

Showrooms that couldn't tell me who made it. Labels that said handloom but felt wrong to the touch. Prices that made no sense in either direction - too cheap to be real, or too expensive to justify with zero provenance. I kept leaving empty-handed.

So I went looking myself.

Sootra Signatures started as that search. I went directly to weavers & to cooperatives in Gadwal, Narayanpet, Pochampally to workshops in Bhuj, to the handful of families in Patan still practicing double ikat. I learned to read a saree the way you'd read a face, what the texture tells you, what the drape reveals, what the zari feels like when it's real silver versus coated thread.

What I found was extraordinary. And almost impossible to find anywhere else.

Every piece on Sootra came to me the same way - directly from the hands that made it, or from collectors who understood what they had. No middlemen. No warehouses. No "inspired by" anything.

If you already know handloom, you'll find things here you've been hunting for.

If you're just starting - welcome. You're in the right place. I'll tell you everything I know.

We also carry a small Studio Edit — Powerloom pieces, clearly labelled, for when handloom isn't the brief. We'll always tell you exactly what you're buying.

One weave at a time. One piece at a time. That's Sootra Signatures.

— Spoorthy