Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Amaya
In New York City, where fashion trends shift faster than the seasons, Devika Jadhav runs Amaya — a brand she designs, produces, markets, and sells entirely from her 900-square-foot apartment. It’s a one-woman operation with an ambitious mission: to merge Indian textile traditions with Western silhouettes, while championing natural fabrics and the artisans behind them.
“I really wanted to pick up these two very strong pieces of my own identity, which was the East and the West, and come up with a sort of dialogue between the two,” Jadhav said. “What I’m doing is using the arts and crafts of India and mixing them with Western silhouette design aesthetics. That’s how Amaya was born.”
From Nimgaon Jali to New York
Jadhav’s story begins in Nimgaon Jali, a small village near Nasik with no railway connection, making it very difficult to access. “We moved to Mumbai when I was very young, but I’d go back every vacation. It’s still a part of me,” she said.
Visiting Nimgaon Jali often, paired with a childhood surrounded by fashion connoisseurs, shaped her sensibility. “My mom and my aunts were all saree connoisseurs. Discussions about Indian textiles and arts and crafts from across India were very common in our house. That helped me grow an appreciation for the variety of arts and crafts that exist in India,” she said. “We have such a rich textile history.”
Her fascination with textiles led her to study at the London College of Fashion, where she began to notice the disconnect between the fashion industry and the craftsmanship she had grown up observing. “There are these two huge powerhouses of fashion — East and West — but they don’t really communicate. The only communication between these two worlds is very transactional. When it comes to manufacturing, there’s no sharing of ideas or sharing of crafts.”
That realization would become the conceptual core of her womenswear label. Amaya, which means “free from illusion” in Sanskrit, “night rain” in Japanese, “the end” in Basque, “high place” in Arabic, and “God’s promise” in Hebrew.
The Conception of Amaya
The turning point came in 2023, when Jadhav moved to the United States. As a consumer, she was frustrated by the lack of accessible, fully natural fabrics. After surveying over 250 people and digging deep into available materials on the market, she found there was a gap and a need.
“A lot of the brands would have a cotton outer shell, but the lining that they would use would be synthetic, so it defeats the purpose. Or they would have blends, like a little bit of cotton with polyester. So there was always some compromise.”
The next step was intensive research; Jadhav did a deep dive into fabric quality and fostered partnerships with Indian artisans. In Jaipur, she worked alongside artisans, developing embroidery and block printing techniques. The collaboration extended to artistic reinterpretations of ancient designs, like 16th-century chintz prints and Mughal motifs. “We hand-painted it, created some beautiful sets of prints that we then made into digital prints,” she said. “They’re all India-inspired, and they all have a very special story that has made it a lot more magical.”
Sustainability, Labor Ethics, and Cultural Appreciation
Amaya’s pieces are produced in small batches — just 15 per style — to minimize waste and overstock. Jackets, for example, might take 25 to 30 hours of hand-crafted embroidery, with artisans using multi-generational techniques to create 3D flowers or pearl embellishments. Jadhav says their contribution is central: “It’s not enough just to give credit where it’s due. We need to make sure that our artisans are taken care of… We’re not overworking them. We’re making sure they’re well taken care of in terms of the amount of money that they are making.”
For Jadhav, the artisans are the true heroes who do not get the recognition they deserve. She points to the recent Kolhapuri-Prada controversy, where the luxury brand released a shoe strikingly similar to the traditional Indian Kolhapuri chappal without acknowledging its origins. The saga underscored the very gap Jadhav is trying to close. “They deserve so much recognition, the amount of hard work, and the skill that they have been practicing for generations.”
She is equally committed to Amaya’s cultural role. “Nothing makes me more happy than speaking to a consumer, talking about block prints, or talking about our arts and crafts, and spreading awareness and getting people to see us and the value behind our work,” she said. “Hopefully [the pieces] will last for a much longer period of time in their wardrobe, rather than discarding it.”
That authenticity is at the core of her brand story. “We already have such a rich history and culture, why not show it off? Why not talk about it?” she asked.
Sustainability is another guiding principle, though Jadhav is frank about the challenges: “I would say Amaya is a work in progress and working towards it,” she said. Since Amaya is a small brand with limited resources, sustainability can be an expensive endeavor. Nonetheless, Amaya implements a zero-waste policy by donating scraps for recycling, shipping orders plastic-free (with the exception of garment wrapping, for which Jadhav is seeking alternatives), and favoring fabric-covered buttons. But Jadhav sees true sustainability as a holistic goal, hoping to eventually track everything from pesticide use in cotton farming to transportation emissions in deliveries.
Looking Ahead
For now, Amaya is growing through online sales, New York pop-ups, and an upcoming launch on the brand discovery platform ShopShops. Her long-term vision is clear: a thriving, collaborative space where East and West coexist in every stitch, and where the artisans of India are seen, valued, and celebrated on the global stage.
“The world is ready to hear our stories. The world is ready to accept us.”