Here is exactly where
your money goes
Most brands say ethically made and stop there. We would rather show you the arithmetic and let you judge it.
To the woman who made it
₹70.30 38%Her agreed piece rate, paid into her own account within fourteen days of the piece leaving her hands — whether or not we have sold it yet.
Materials
₹25.90 14%Hand-woven cotton-linen from a weaving family in the next valley, colourfast embroidery cotton, cedar hoops, unbleached tissue and cotton tape.
Finishing & the workshop
₹16.65 9%Cutting, pressing, inspection and packing in the Satoli room, plus rent, power and the wages of the two women who run it.
The community fund
₹9.25 5%Held separately and spent by a committee of four artisans and one outsider. We do not have a vote on it, and we are told afterwards what it went on.
Getting it to you
₹14.80 8%Road to Delhi, air freight, duties, and the last mile. We have not found a slower route that arrives intact, and we are still looking.
Payment & platform fees
₹7.40 4%Card processing, currency conversion, and the shop software. None of this reaches anybody in Kumaon, which is why we would like it to be smaller.
Running the house
₹40.70 22%Photography, the website, accounting, travel between Avalon and the villages, and two salaries. In our first two years this was a loss, not a margin.
Figures are for a piece sold at full price directly through this site. A piece sold through a stockist carries their margin as well, which comes out of the last line — never out of the first.
The number that actually
matters to her
A percentage is easy to be proud of and hard to eat. The honest question is what a woman earns for a day of her own time, measured against what else that day could have earned her in the same valley.
Comparison figures are indicative rates for the district, reviewed each April. We publish our own rate card on request to any buyer who asks.