Why We Went to India for Our Next Collection
When I started Spring Riot, I was focused on the pieces that sit closest to our kids’ skin: underwear. The most important everyday basic our children live in, sleep in and sweat in.
I wanted these pieces to be incredibly soft, comfortable and thoughtfully made from natural fibers.
But as Spring Riot has grown, I’ve kept thinking about what comes next. People kept asking us for more everyday pieces, and slowly we started introducing them here and there- all made down the street from my house in Los Angeles.
For our first true woven collection, though, I wanted to explore something different.
Why India?
I’ve always loved Indian textiles. India has an incredible history with cotton and a long tradition of weaving, dyeing and printing textiles by hand. I was drawn to the character of these fabrics- the texture, the color, and the slight variations and imperfections that make them feel special.
I spoke with a few different mills and producers in India, but ultimately felt most comfortable working with another mom who runs a small textile studio outside of Jaipur. There was something about working directly with another woman and mother, on a smaller scale, that felt right for Spring Riot.
Together, we’ve been developing our first collection using handwoven and hand-printed cotton fabrics.
Special, But Not Precious
What I love most about these fabrics is that they don’t feel overly polished. You can see the weave. The stripes aren’t always perfectly perfect. The prints have little variations from one piece to the next.
They feel special, but not precious, which is exactly how I want kids’ clothes to feel.
The goal isn’t to make clothes that need to be saved for something special. I want to make pieces kids can actually live in- easy, reversible pants (more on those soon!), shirts and simple silhouettes that feel comfortable enough for every day.
And of course, they still have to pass the most important Spring Riot test: kids actually have to want to wear them.
Growing Spring Riot, Slowly
Spring Riot started with a very specific idea: make better basics for kids using materials I felt good about putting against their skin.
That hasn’t changed.
But I also don’t want Spring Riot to stay in one tiny box. I’m interested in beautiful materials. I’m interested in how things are made. And I’m interested in finding small producers and makers doing something special and figuring out how we can turn those materials into pieces that feel modern, playful and genuinely useful.
Spring Riot is still small, and I’m very intentional about how much we make and what we put into the world. So we’re starting small with this collection too. If it goes well, there is a lot more I can’t wait to make.
