At World of Crow, we often get questions about our prices, and we believe in being open about the true value behind each garment. Our dresses are crafted by hand using natural materials, with every stitch made with immense care. This approach has a cost, not because of massive profits or huge markups, but because it truly reflects:
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Fair wages paid to our skilled collaborators.
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The expense of sourcing sustainable, high-quality materials.
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The intricate craftsmanship and detail poured into every piece.
Did you know? Each of our garments takes anywhere from 3 to 7 days to create. A simpler block-printed piece, for example, is quicker to produce. However, a stunning Jamdani dress can take significantly longer. Just one yard of Jamdani fabric can take 3 days to weave, and an average dress uses about 3 yards. The more intricate the design, the more time our artisans spend stopping the loom to meticulously hand-weave each motif, creating truly unique art.
Once the fabrics arrive at our workshops, each piece is individually cut and sewn after your order is placed and measurements are cross-checked. This is key to our process: we don't stock finished products, only fabric. This made-to-order approach significantly reduces waste, ensuring we only create what's loved and needed. By avoiding overproduction, we eliminate the vast amounts of unsold inventory that often end up in landfills, a major contributor to fashion's environmental footprint.
We partner directly with independent workshops who set their own fair prices for their work. Sometimes, this means we adjust our designs or accept smaller margins to ensure our collaborators earn a living wage. Beyond production, significant costs like import duties, VAT, corporation taxes, rent, storage, and shipping also contribute to the final price.
While some brands offer detailed financial breakdowns, we've chosen a different path. We believe partial transparency can be misleading, and we prioritize respect for the dignity and autonomy of all our collaborators, including the many vital but often "invisible" workers in our supply chain.
Our Commitment to Our Team & Planet: A Deeper Dive into Sustainability
We are also proud to share additional commitments that contribute to our unique operational costs and values:
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Supporting Our People: For our team of 26 dedicated individuals across cutting, sewing, finishing, administration, and customer service, we provide unlimited snacks, fruits, and beverages in our workshops. We also offer financial loan assistance (e-money) to our team members, demonstrating our investment in their well-being beyond their wages. We believe a happy and secure team is at the heart of quality craftsmanship.
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Eco-Conscious Craft: The Power of Handwoven, AZO-Free Natural Dyes
We exclusively use handwoven, AZO-free natural dyes. This is a cornerstone of our environmental and ethical commitment, and here's why it matters:
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Healthier for Artisans and You: Traditional synthetic dyes, particularly those containing AZO compounds, can break down into harmful, even carcinogenic, aromatic amines. These chemicals pose significant health risks to the workers who handle them and can irritate sensitive skin for consumers. Our AZO-free natural dyes eliminate these risks, ensuring a safer production environment and healthier garments for you.
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Minimizing Water Pollution: The dyeing process is notoriously water-intensive and often releases toxic effluents into water bodies. Natural dyes, by their very nature, are biodegradable and require less water, and importantly, produce no harmful chemical runoff. This drastically reduces our impact on precious water resources and aquatic ecosystems.
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Lower Energy Footprint: Handloom weaving, which we prioritize, consumes significantly less energy than mechanized power looms. It relies on human skill and traditional techniques, reducing reliance on electricity and therefore lowering our carbon emissions at the production stage.
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Embracing Nature's Palette: While this commitment to traditional, sustainable dyeing methods means our production process is inherently more time-consuming, fragile, and even expensive for us to acquire these specialized materials, it allows us to create beautiful, unique colors derived from plants, minerals, and other natural sources. This embraces the beauty of subtle variations and ensures each piece carries the authentic touch of nature.
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Offsetting Our Footprint: Tree Planting Initiatives
To further our environmental responsibility and mitigate any unavoidable emissions from our operations (like shipping), we actively plant trees to offset our carbon footprint. Trees are vital carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This initiative directly contributes to reforestation efforts and helps us move towards a more carbon-neutral business model. We're continuously exploring additional ways to reduce our footprint across our entire supply chain.
We're not perfect, but we are deeply committed to operating with care and integrity. We trust our partners to charge fairly, and we strive to ensure our prices genuinely reflect the exceptional value of their craftsmanship, our commitment to our team, and our unwavering dedication to sustainable practices that benefit both people and the planet.