Clothing

Indian clothing is grounded in a millennia-old textile tradition that privileges the fabric over the cut. Where Western fashion builds the silhouette through structured seams, darts and linings, Indian clothing wraps the body in generous lengths of cotton, silk or wool, allowing the fabric itself — its hand, its drape, its print — to define the garment’s character. The result is a wardrobe that flatters every body type without constraining it, where comfort is not a compromise but the starting point.

Fabindia Roma’s cotton is printed using the block print technique, one of India’s oldest artisanal crafts. The artisan carves teak-wood blocks with the decorative motif — one block for each colour in the design — and presses them onto the fabric one at a time, metre after metre. The pigments are natural-based and each impression varies slightly in pressure, amount of colour and angle. A single length of cotton can require an entire day’s work. This slowness is the price — and the value — of authenticity.

The Fabindia Roma Indian womenswear collection comprises hand-printed cotton kaftans, block print cotton shirts (in the Bibi and Pintuck lines), kurtas — the long tunic of the Indian tradition — quilted cotton jackets, lightweight Indian jackets, quilted and reversible waistcoats, Nehru Jackets with mandarin collars, skirts and shorts in printed cotton. Themed collections — the Capsule Collection, the Mughal Collection and the English Garden Collection — curate garments across categories around a shared aesthetic thread.

Hand-printed cotton can be washed by hand in cold water with a gentle detergent, or machine-washed at 30°C on a delicate cycle with reduced spin. Avoid bleach and tumble drying. Dry in the shade, ideally flat for larger garments such as the kaftan. During the first wash, the natural pigments of the block print may release slightly — this is normal behaviour for artisanal dyes and does not affect colour fastness. Wash after wash, Indian cotton grows softer and the garment takes on that lived-in character that sets craftsmanship apart from mass production.

Fabindia Roma is located at Via del Banco di Santo Spirito 40, in the heart of the historic centre, a short walk from Castel Sant’Angelo and Piazza Navona. The shop is the only Fabindia retail point in Europe and offers the full collection of Indian womenswear, home textiles and artisanal accessories. Online shopping is also available, with shipping throughout Italy and Europe. In the shop you can touch the fabrics, view the colour variants in person and receive guidance on garment fit.