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Founded in 2021 by Indian designer Kartik Kumra, Kartik Research has quickly emerged as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary fashion, recasting traditional Indian craftsmanship through a modern, globally resonant lens. What began as a passion project during the pandemic has grown into an artisanal label celebrated on the world’s biggest stages, blending slow fashion principles with avant-garde design. With every collection, Kartik Research champions hand-made processes, from hand-loom textiles and plant-based dyes to intricate embroideries, each piece imbued with touchable nuance and singular character.
Their latest collection Raag, emerges at a particularly charged economic moment for Indian craft and fashion. Recent shifts in global trade policy, particularly steep tariffs imposed by the United States on Indian exports, have unsettled a system that relies heavily on cross-border demand. Kartik Kumra acknowledges that for independent brands, such turbulence can be recalibrated through pricing strategies or geographic pivots. For artisans, dyers, loom workers, and embroidery clusters, the consequences are far less flexible. Their work is tied to specific supply chains, longstanding buyers, and margins that leave little room for shock absorption.
In this climate, 'Raag' reads as a deliberate refusal to retreat. Instead of simplifying production or streamlining processes to offset uncertainty, the collection intensifies its commitment to handwork. “This season introduces pieces that sit closer to couture than anything we have done before, garments built around almost ridiculous levels of craftsmanship, techniques that exist simply because they can, because the hands are capable, and because preserving that knowledge feels urgent”, says Kumra on the brand’s Instagram.
The name anchors the collection in a specific historical lineage. In 1970s Ahmedabad, a city that served as a crucible for modern Indian art, architecture, and textile experimentation, Asha Sarabhai founded a label called Raag, rooted in handwoven fabrics and quiet sophistication. The Sarabhai family were key patrons of the arts in post-Independence India, fostering an environment where creative exchange flourished. That original Raag became closely associated with a community of artists and thinkers; its garments were understated yet meticulously made, carrying a seriousness of intent without theatricality.
The collection itself feels like a coming together of worlds — where sharply modern tailoring meets a visual language deeply rooted in India’s material memory. Structured jackets and elongated coats are cut with precision, their silhouettes clean and contemporary, yet they are softened by hand-worked surfaces and textiles that carry visible histories. Hues of yellow, green, red and blue. Modern suiting is disrupted by tactile hand processes, that's what makes the collection compelling is this tension between structure and softness.
For an Indian designer operating within volatile economic and political conditions, making a collection like Raag is inherently strategic. It reframes craft as infrastructure to be strengthened deliberately, instead of a piece of heritage to be preserved sentimentally. This collection of Kartik Research, proves indelibly, that art has always and will always be political.
