Meet the Founder & Team

                                         

Karuna Reddy, Founder                   

Namaskaram, I'm Karuna, founder of Sreka.

We love success stories, and we learn from failure stories. But how often do we hear about the messy middle? That's where I am, and this is my in-progress story.

 

Why Sreka

I used to love wearing sarees to the office. Slowly, I wore them less and less. It wasn't that I fell out of love with them. The market was full of cheap synthetic sarees that felt heavy and hot, nothing like the sarees I grew up admiring.

 

I wanted something simple: breathable, sustainable cotton I could wear all day. And when I did find a saree I liked, there was another problem. A matching blouse often cost more than 3,000 rupees, which felt unfair for everyday wear.

I couldn't be the only woman feeling this.

How it began

My search started with my daughter Sreena's dream of studying fashion. While she prepared for NIFT, I began researching too. That's also how our name was born: Sre from Sreena and ka from Karuna. Sreka is a mother and daughter in one word.

                                   

 

I was born and brought up in Telangana, where Pochampally Double Ikkat is our pride, yet most of us never owned one because of the price. Curious, I visited the weaving villages and spent time with the weavers. What surprised me was how little they earned for such extraordinary work.

After 12 years in the corporate world, I took a leap of faith to build a brand around Pochampally handlooms.

                                   

The messy middle

I travelled from Pochampally and Narayanpet to Kolkata, Varanasi and Jaipur, and fell in love with every craft I met. I wanted to do it all, and things got beautifully chaotic. I quit my job, lost sight of my vision, and finally took a pause.

In that pause, I went back to what started it all: sarees women could wear every day, made in a way that is kind to the environment. 

Finding hand block printing

Hand block printing in Jaipur gave me that path. I went for one week of sampling. It took 1.5 months, 1,500 km from my family, with no textile background, and with manufacturers who only wanted large minimum orders. I wasn't going home empty-handed, so I learned the fabrics and the techniques until the work was done.

 

                                      

"I care deeply about the environment, and if you are too then make a difference".

                                   

 

Today, working with Bagru artisans in Jaipur, we make hand block printed sarees in Bagru, Sanganer and Dabu styles, on cotton, Chanderi and Maheshwari cotton & silk blends. Each one is printed by hand with natural mud resist dying and made for casual, everyday wear.

I 

What we believe

I care deeply about the environment, and I believe beautiful clothes shouldn't cost the earth. Every Sreka saree supports the artisans behind it and a slower, more responsible way of making.

                                    

The blouse problem isn't fully solved yet, but I'm working on it, and I'll share that journey with you too.

                                 

My journey hasn't been a straight line, but it led me to my most authentic self. If you love in-progress stories, come along. Shop at Sreka.in or follow us on Instagram Sreka Label

Itlu (with love),
Karuna and Team Sreka