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Where the money goes in a ₹15,600 silk saree
Silk, zari, dyeing, weaving days and our margin: an honest breakdown of one bestseller.
We are sometimes asked why a handwoven silk saree costs several times more than one from a powerloom. The simplest answer is to show where the money goes. Here is the breakdown for our maroon butta saree, which sells for ₹15,600.
Raw materials come first. The saree uses about 620 g of mulberry silk yarn, which costs the weaving family close to ₹4,600 at current prices. The gold zari for the buttas and temple border is about 90 g of tested zari, costing around ₹2,300. Degumming and dyeing in two colours adds roughly ₹600.
Weaving is the largest single cost. This saree takes 12 days on the loom, with a second person helping on the border for part of that time. We pay the family by the day, at ₹420 per loom day plus ₹250 a day for the helper, which comes to about ₹6,000 once warp preparation is included.
That brings the saree to roughly ₹13,500 before it leaves the village. Transport, quality checks, the cloth-lined box, photography and payment fees add about ₹800. GST is included in the price. What remains is our margin, a little over ₹1,000, which pays for the shop on Cross Cut Road, our staff and the free exchanges. A powerloom saree of a similar look might sell for ₹4,000. The yarn is often thinner, the zari is synthetic and the loom does a day’s handwork in an hour. Both have their place. We just think you should know what you are paying for.
