If you've ever wondered what makes a Renew piece feel so different, the answer often starts with the fabric. From layers of lovingly stitched Kantha to vibrant recycled silks, soft cotton saris and our beautifully textured pashminas, the materials we work with each have their own story, character and quirks.
We spend a lot of time sourcing fabrics we genuinely love and figuring out how to turn them into pieces you'll want to wear for years to come. So, let's take a little closer look at the fabrics behind some of your favourite Renew pieces, where they come from, what makes them special and why we love working with them so much.
Kantha
Kantha is where so much of the Renew story begins. Traditionally, Indian women have used old saris to create Kantha blankets, layering two or more pieces of fabric together and sewing them with rows of running stitch, often using white cotton thread. The craft is traditionally learned from a young age, and these blankets have long been part of everyday life in Indian homes.
Kantha has beautiful cultural significance too. On their recent trip to India, Tegan and Brooke learned more about how Kantha blankets can be considered lucky, with some believed to bring prosperity and protection to babies. They can be lovingly wrapped around infants as a form of blessing and care. When you think about all the time, care and intention that has gone into stitching those layers together, it's easy to understand why we say Kantha feels like a loving hug when you wear it. There is something pretty special about knowing that all those positive intentions have literally been stitched into the fabric.
Most of our Kantha pieces are made from two layers, while our outerwear is often made from three for extra warmth. And here's something we think is important to clear up: not all Kantha is vintage. This is a common misconception, but most kantha is not vintage. You can often spot a genuinely old piece by its incredibly tight rows of running stitch, fine thread and substantial thickness. Many vintage blankets have been repaired and restitched over the years, sometimes again and again, giving them an unmistakable weight and character.
Muslin Cotton Sari
We've only recently started working more with what we affectionately call our "plain" sari fabrics, and we're absolutely loving them. Though honestly, there is very little plain about them. Our teams source an incredible variety of bright colours and beautiful prints, with a real focus on finding high-quality fabrics.
These are recycled cotton saris without the kantha stitching. We generally use two layers to give the fabric more body, which also means we can create some wonderfully versatile reversible pieces. And when we say something is reversible, we mean truly reversible. Our garments are finished properly on the inside, so both sides are designed to be worn.
Muslin cotton is wonderfully soft and a little more breathable than kantha. Without all those rows of stitching, it has a slightly lighter, simpler feel while still giving an existing textile a beautiful new life as clothing. It's another way we can work with fabrics that already exist, rather than always starting with something brand new.
Recycled Silk Sari
This one is exactly what it sounds like: beautiful recycled silk saris that we turn into clothing. We work primarily with crepe silk because we love its texture, drape and consistency compared with cheaper silk varieties. Quality matters to us here. We want your silk pieces to feel gorgeous when you put them on, but we also want them to be made to last.
Depending on the garment, we use our recycled silks in a single layer, like our Flow and Twilight Robes, or double-layer them to create reversible pieces. Our upcoming Silk Palazzo Pants are a particularly exciting example because they are so dang good.
And then there are the colours and patterns. Honestly, there is good reason that our lovely community members can't get enough of the silks.
Because our silk is recycled and sourced without original fibre composition labels, we can't always know the exact makeup of every piece, that's why we also choose by feel - we want our pieces to be luxuriously soft. Our recycled silk saris are typically silk blends containing some synthetic fibres.
One of our favourite little discoveries? Some saris have extra hand-stitched details like sweet little flowers. You can often spot them when you know what you're looking for, and when you find one, it feels like uncovering a tiny piece of textile treasure.
Pashmina
Our newer pashmina fabrics are genuinely works of art. Our pashmina is upcycled, meaning we source pieces that already exist and transform them into clothing rather than creating entirely new fabric from scratch. It allows us to make use of beautiful existing materials while avoiding the resources needed to produce something new.
Pashmina has a wonderfully soft, almost silky feel, but the construction of the fabric makes it quite different from our other materials. Because it is woven and delicate, our makers have to cut each piece individually. There are no big stacks of fabric going under a bulk cutting machine here. Each garment is carefully worked out piece by piece.
That makes pashmina a little more delicate, but also incredibly special. It has a beautiful weight and drape that feels completely different when you put it on. If you've ever owned one of our pashmina pieces, you'll understand why we say you'll never want to take it off!
There is so much more we could say about the fabrics we work with, and we're always learning more too. Our recent trip to India gave Brooke and Tegan the chance to spend time with our teams, see more of the process behind our clothing and learn more about the traditions and stories woven into the textiles we love. We'll be sharing more from that trip soon, so there's plenty more to come.
In the meantime, you can find us over on Instagram for daily doses of colour, new pieces and behind-the-scenes glimpses, join our Facebook community group to chat with fellow Renew lovers, or sign up to our newsletter if you'd like the good stuff delivered straight to your inbox. And of course, if you have a favourite Renew fabric, we'd love to know which one has stolen your heart. 🌈
