We have been working with a small family owned factory in Gurgaon, India since the beginning of Universal Works.
David Keyte (UW cofounder) has actually been working with these guys since before he ever had the idea to start UW, when he was working for some of the great names in British menswear and when it came to starting UW, it wouldn’t have been possible without the guys at the factory. While we started small with a handful of British makers, it was Joshi and Sutapa who were prepared to do us a favour and make small numbers because of David’s long-standing relationship with them. There aren’t many makers, even small ones, that would entertain an order of just five of a jacket.
So we've had a great working relationship with the guys here for some years now, and we expect to carry it on for a long time to come. We have long standing relationships with great small factories in the UK and Portugal as well. For us, it is not so much the ‘where’ of something is made but the ‘why’. We believe in championing small-scale production, making things in the right places and making use of a particular region's area of expertise. For Nottinghamshire it is knitwear and our Workshop Denim, for Italy it is their amazing wool-cotton fabric blends and for India it is ikat and unique hand-loomed fabrics, manufacturing flexibility and the technical ability of the tailors.
David took his camera on the last few visits to India to document his trip.
UWHQ
