Know what you’re wearing.

Why launch with indigo

It’s the lowest-risk start. Indigo is the dye behind traditional denim and has a long record in commercial use. It bonds to cotton and linen without a metal-salt mordant, and properly run commercial processes rate 4.5–5 out of 5 for wash and light fastness, which matches synthetic dyes.

How it works. Indigo is insoluble, so it is reduced in an alkaline vat (for example with slaked lime) into soluble yellow-green leuco-indigo. Cloth goes in, comes out, and turns blue as it oxidises in the air. Depth comes from repeat dips: one 10–20 minute dip gives a pale shade, and one to six or more dips reach denim blue.

It fades honestly. Indigo sits on the outer layer of the yarn, so it wears at creases and edges over time. Denim customers already expect and value this.

Colour beyond blue

Every other colour needs mordant dyeing. That brings more process steps and more batch-to-batch variation than indigo. We will use alum, which is standard and low in toxicity, with iron only where a darker tone is needed.

Myrobalan gives two colours. Myrobalan (harda) is a tannin-rich fruit grown across India. On its own it dyes a soft butter yellow or buff, a quieter neutral than bright osage yellow. With iron it turns grey to black, the traditional black of Indian ajrakh and kalamkari printing. It is also used in India to prepare cotton before alum, which helps cotton take other dyes. Because it is local, it should cost less than imported dyes such as osage. For the deepest black, dye over an indigo base. Too much iron weakens cotton over time, so iron levels need testing for fabric strength as well as colourfastness.

Fibre choice matters. Cotton and linen take natural dyes less readily than wool and silk, and they need stronger mordanting or pretreatment to reach the same depth. Cotton basics should launch in indigo. Mordant colours can follow once the process is proven, or appear first on wool knitwear.

Still to confirm with a dye house: mordant-to-fibre ratios, dye-bath temperatures and times, and the choice of reducing agent and alkali for the vat. Each has both low-toxicity and more hazardous options.

The macron stitch

NIRAMA drops the macron from its name so it stays easy to read, type and remember. The macron comes back on the garment itself, as a single stitch.

At the centre back of each garment an A is printed on the inside fabric, with the composition and size below it, so there is no sewn-in neck label. A single short horizontal stitch sits just above the A. From the inside, print and stitch together read as Ā.

The stitch passes through the cloth, so from the outside only the small macron shows. It contrasts with the garment, so it works as a quiet signature: small enough to stay understated, and easy to recognise once you know it.

The mark only ever uses two colours, the brand’s two core materials. Raw cotton on every dyed garment, and indigo on raw cotton garments. Print and stitch always match, so Ā reads as one mark.

What it means

The hoodie carries the margin. Even at the high-cost end each hoodie leaves about £32 toward marketing and overheads. If winning a new customer costs £20, that falls to about £12.

T-shirts need bigger baskets. Delivery and packing cost almost as much for a T-shirt as for a hoodie, so a single T-shirt order leaves only £11–£20. Sell them in packs of two or three, or set free delivery above about £75 so they travel with a hoodie.

Sleepwear sets earn like the hoodie. Two garments travel in one parcel, so delivery and packing weigh less than on a single T-shirt. A long set leaves £28–£45 and a short set £22–£37 per online sale.

Wholesale only works at the low-cost end. A shop would pay about £35 for a hoodie and £16 for a T-shirt, ex VAT. That leaves £21.50 and £9.95 at low cost, but only £8.20 and £3.80 at high cost.

The launch run needs £9,405–£18,675 in stock for 300 hoodies, 300 T-shirts, 150 long sets and 150 short sets in indigo, plus sampling and development. Sold at full price, it would bring in about £48,625 after VAT.

What moves the numbers

Natural indigo dyeing is the largest and least certain cost. It depends on shade depth, the number of dips, and whether the fabric or the finished garment is dyed.

Duty: the UK–India trade agreement has been in force since 15 July 2026 and removes the 12% UK tariff on Indian clothing. Garments must meet its rules of origin, which Indian cotton made up in India should satisfy. Confirm with a customs broker.

Freight: sea freight is cheap but takes weeks. Air freight roughly quadruples the freight cost, so plan production early.

Currency: costs are quoted in rupees or dollars, so a weaker pound raises them.

Working prices: the £38 T-shirt, £78 long set and £65 short set are working prices. The sets are priced about 10% below buying the pieces separately. Benchmark them against organic competitors before launch.

Photography

Shoot NIRAMA as a contemporary fashion label, not a rustic ethical brand. Use clean architectural locations, natural skin, strong cropping and plenty of negative space.

Cut against that with close, tactile production images: hands, dye vats, wet cloth turning from yellow-green to indigo as it oxidises, cotton fibre and stitching. Fashion on the outside, material standards underneath.

Reference points

Minimal indigo denim editorials from these labels set the tone. They are for mood only. The images on this page are AI-generated direction, and NIRAMA will shoot its own photography.