Have you ever loved a kurta but never actually worn it?
Not because you forgot about it. Not because you ran out of occasions. You just... didn't reach for it. Because as gorgeous as it looks on the hanger, the moment you put it on you spend the rest of the day uncomfortable, sweating, readjusting, and quietly resenting a piece of clothing you genuinely like.
You tell yourself it's the wrong day. Wrong occasion. Wrong mood.
It's the wrong fabric.
What if I told you that the kurta you keep avoiding is literally made of plastic? Not poetically. Not as an exaggeration. Your body already knows that low-grade discomfort, that weird clamminess, that feeling of wearing something that just doesn't let you breathe, that's your skin registering synthetic fiber and rejecting it in real time.
Polyester is the most common fabric being sold to us right now , dressed up in words like handmade, artisanal, breathable, woven. And most of us have no idea we're buying it. Because nobody tells you. Until now.
What polyester actually is and why it's the wrong fabric for a kurta
Let's start with what polyester actually is, because nobody leads with this. Polyester is plastic. Not inspired by plastic. Not plastic-adjacent. It is literally a synthetic plastic fiber petroleum-derived, processed into thread, woven into fabric, and sold to you as clothing. The reason it feels the way it feels : that slight slickness, that weird warmth, that sensation of wearing something that doesn't quite move with you is because you are, in a very real sense, wearing a plastic bag. A well-constructed, nicely dyed plastic bag.
Cotton, on the other hand, is a natural fiber. It comes from a plant. It has been worn by humans in hot climates for thousands of years for a very good reason :it breathes, it absorbs, it softens with wear, and it doesn't trap your body heat against you like a slow punishment.
The difference in how they behave on your body isn't subtle. Cotton absorbs moisture and releases it. Polyester holds it against your skin. Cotton lets air circulate. Polyester creates a barrier. Cotton gets softer the more you wear it. Polyester stays exactly the same smooth, synthetic, indifferent to your comfort.
And the older a polyester garment gets, the worse it gets. It pills. It holds onto smells no matter how many times you wash it. It loses its shape. Cotton ages in the opposite direction : it settles, softens, and becomes more yours with every wear.
One fabric was made by nature for the human body. The other was made in a factory for the fashion industry's profit margins. Your body knows which is which. It's been telling you every time you reach for a certain kurta and then quietly put it back.
How to Tell If Your Kurta Is Actually Cotton
Because a lot of them aren't. And you deserve to know before you spend money on something that's going to disappoint you the same way the last one did.
1. Check the label Should say 100% cotton. If it says "poly cotton," "polyester blend," or there's no label at all , there's your answer. No label is somehow worse than a bad label.
2. The feel test Cotton feels soft, slightly textured, a little lived-in even when brand new. Polyester is smoother, slicker, and almost glossy. If you hold a fabric up and think "this feels expensive in a weird way" it's probably polyester. That sheen is a red flag, not a feature.
3. The stretch and recovery test: Pull the fabric gently and release. Cotton has very little stretch and recovers slowly , it moves like a natural fiber because it is one. Polyester springs back quickly and feels almost elastic even in woven form. If a kurta bounces back at you like it's made of rubber, it's synthetic.
4. The burn test This one is the most reliable and the test we have done for our fabrics to make sure that no outfit in tanoti is made of polyester or poly blend .You can check the test here.
Cotton burns cleanly. It catches flame slowly, smells exactly like burning paper or dry grass, and leaves behind soft, crumbly grey ash that falls apart when you touch it. The flame goes out on its own once you pull it away.
Polyester tells on itself immediately. It doesn't burn : it melts. The fiber shrinks away from the flame, beads into a hard little plastic ball, and smells unmistakably chemical. Sharp, synthetic, the kind of smell that makes you instinctively pull your face away. Because you're essentially melting plastic. Which is what it is.
We actually did this test on camera — burning cotton and polyester side by side so you could see exactly what happened. Watch it on our Instagram @tanoti.in and you'll never confuse the two again. Once you've seen polyester melt into a bead, you can't unsee it. And you'll think about it every single time you shop for fabric.
5. The price reality check 100% cotton, genuine hand block print, made by actual humans with actual skill that has a real cost. If a kurta is listed as all of those things and priced at ₹399, at least one of those claims is a lie. Usually more than one.
Run these checks and you'll never be surprised by a fabric again.
Why Tanoti uses 100% cotton for every block print piece and always will
This was never a debate for us.
Tanoti was founded on one non-negotiable: being comfortable in your own skin, regardless of your size. That's not a tagline. That's the whole brand. It's why we call what we make repeatwear clothes you actually reach for, again and again, because they feel as good as they look.
And as a fashion student, if there's one thing NIFT hammers into you from day one, it's fabric. Not just how it looks or drapes, but what it actually is, how it behaves on a body, and crucially how harmful the wrong fabric can be for your skin.
So cotton was never really a question. It was our first choice from day one, and everything we've built has stayed true to that.
We were taught how important fabrics are and how harmful they can be .The burn test, the feel test, the stretch test aren't things I picked up casually. They're part of a formal textile education that taught me to identify fabric, understand its properties, and know exactly what it does to the person wearing it. Which means when Tanoti says 100% cotton, it's not a marketing choice made by someone who liked the sound of it. It's a decision made by someone who was trained to know the difference and built an entire label around it.
Every Tanoti piece is made of 100% cotton. The dyes are water-based. The fabric is chosen before anything else because at Tanoti, fabric isn't a background detail; it's the whole point. And the piece that arrives is made specifically to your measurements; not a size M that's been labelled a 2XL and quietly hopes for the best.
The made-to-order model is what makes this possible. We're not producing thousands of pieces and cutting corners at the fabric stage to hit a price point. Every piece starts when you order it. Which means we choose cotton every single time not because it's convenient, but because it's the only fabric that's worth wearing.
Our purpose is not just to make pretty clothes , it’s to create comfortable slow fashion repeatwear you reach for without thinking twice.
Why polyester is bad for the environment and why cotton makes the difference
Polyester doesn't just feel bad on your skin. It's bad for everything around it.
Every time you wash a polyester garment, it sheds. Not visibly, not dramatically but thousands of microscopic plastic fibers called microplastics break off in the water, pass through washing machines and water treatment systems, and end up in rivers, oceans, and eventually the food chain. You've been eating microplastics for years. So has every marine animal. So has the fish you had for dinner last Tuesday.
And before it even becomes a garment, polyester costs the planet oil, energy, and CO2 it will never give back. And it doesn't biodegrade ever. A kurta you throw away today will still be here in 200 years, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic that go nowhere.
Cotton isn't perfect; conventional cotton farming uses water and pesticides. But it is a natural fiber. It biodegrades. It doesn't shed microplastics in your washing machine. And when you buy made-to-order cotton like Tanoti : you're also not contributing to the overproduction and textile waste that makes fast fashion one of the most polluting industries on earth.
Every Tanoti piece is made when you order it. No excess. No waste sitting in a warehouse. No synthetic fabric ending up in a landfill because a trend changed. That's not an accident. That's the point.
Slow fashion was never just about you feeling good in what you wear. It was always about making sure the way we make clothes doesn't cost the planet more than it costs us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is cotton or polyester better for a kurta?
Cotton. Not even a close call , especially for Indian summers and especially for block print kurtas. Cotton breathes, absorbs sweat, and lets water-based dyes bond properly with the fabric. Polyester traps heat, repels moisture, and causes block prints to sit on the surface where they'll eventually crack and fade. If someone tries to sell you a polyester block print kurta as equivalent to cotton, they are wrong and now you know why.
Can hand block printing be done on polyester?
Not well — not with traditional methods. Hand block printing uses water-based natural dyes, and polyester fibers repel water. The dye can't absorb into the fiber, so it coats the surface instead. The result looks flat from day one and breaks down quickly with washing. Authentic hand block printing needs a natural fiber. Cotton is the standard for a reason.
Why is my block print kurta cracking and fading after a few washes?
Almost certainly a polyester base. On polyester, block print dye sits on the fabric's surface rather than bonding with the fiber so it starts breaking down the moment you wash it. A 100% cotton block print done with quality dyes softens and settles over time. It doesn't crack. It doesn't peel. It just gets better.
Is polyester bad for skin in Indian summers?
It's genuinely not great. Polyester traps heat and moisture against skin, doesn't absorb sweat, and causes friction in sustained heat. If you get heat rashes every summer, unexplained irritation, or just feel inexplicably uncomfortable in certain outfits check the fabric label. Switching to cotton is often the fix that seems too simple to be the answer. It usually is the answer.
So. What's Actually in Your Wardrobe?
Now you know what to look for. The label, the feel, the burn test, the price that's too good to be honest. And now you know why the kurta you keep not wearing probably isn't a problem.Cotton is what makes hand block printing work. It's what makes a kurta survive an Indian summer without making you suffer through it. It's what makes a piece last instead of fall apart after two seasons and a handful of washes.
Polyester is what makes block print kurtas cheap to produce and disappointing to own.
At Tanoti, every piece is 100% cotton, printed in-house by hand, made to your measurements. Not because it's the easier choice it isn't but because it's the only choice that makes the craft worth anything.
