About memos – Between Berlin and India
memos is a Berlin-based fashion project shaped by long-term work between Berlin and India. After more than twenty years of experience in clothing design and production, memos marks a new chapter focused on material, process, and continuity. The brand brings together Berlin’s urban, vintage-influenced everyday aesthetics with traditional Indian textiles, craftsmanship, and production knowledge.
Berlin as a Starting Point
Living in Berlin strongly influences how memos garments are designed. The city’s everyday aesthetics — reuse, layering, practicality, and individuality — shape an approach where clothing exists without strict rules. Styles overlap, garments are worn in different ways, and function matters as much as appearance. This openness is reflected in relaxed cuts, adaptable proportions, and designs that work across bodies and situations. Many memos pieces are unisex, as a natural result of focusing on form, fabric, and use rather than fixed categories.
Working with Materials
A central part of the memos process is working directly with materials. Regular travel to India allows fabrics to be sourced and selected on site — in markets, warehouses, and textile hubs. Decisions are made through touch, weight, texture, and behavior rather than through abstract planning. New ideas often emerge unexpectedly through color combinations, prints, or fabric qualities that cannot be planned in advance. Design develops in response to what the material allows, not the other way around.
Old Saris as a Living Material
One of the defining materials used by memos is old saris. A sari is a traditional Indian garment, usually a long piece of fabric worn wrapped around the body for many years. The saris used by memos differ in age, condition, and character. Some are soft from long use, others still vibrant and contrasting. These differences are not corrected. Instead, garments are developed in response to the fabric itself.
Pieces made from old saris are always unique. Variations in color, pattern placement, and texture are unavoidable and intentional. The material already carries a history, which becomes part of the new garment. In this way, textiles move from one context to another without being erased, continuing their life in a different form.
Production & Craftsmanship
Production takes place in collaboration with family-owned, established workshops in India. memos works only with suppliers known locally for consistent quality and responsible practices. Fair payment, reasonable working hours, proper facilities, and strictly no child labor are non-negotiable standards. These conditions are maintained through long-term cooperation and regular presence on site.
Depending on the garment and material, production involves handwork, sewing machines, or a combination of both. This allows precision, durability, and flexibility without turning the process into industrial mass production.
Pushkar
An important production location for memos is Pushkar, a small town in Rajasthan. Traditionally known as a pilgrimage site, Pushkar later developed a strong textile and tailoring culture through small workshops and markets. It never became an industrial center, but a place where tradition, tourism, and small-scale production exist side by side.
Working in Pushkar means operating in close proximity. Relationships are personal, communication is direct, and long-term cooperation allows experimentation — from adjusting cuts to combining sari panels or developing reversible garments that respond to the material rather than forcing it into standardized forms.
Continuity
memos collections are intentionally small and fluid. Pieces are developed based on available materials rather than seasonal forecasts. This results in limited runs, subtle variations, and garments that are similar but never identical. What connects all memos pieces is the idea that clothing carries traces of its making — of places, materials, and decisions. Rather than hiding these traces, memos allows them to remain visible.
