“I fell in love with the beauty of handcrafted clothes – particularly Rajasthan’s handloom, print and vegetable-dying processes. Today, it’s very rewarding to still make beautiful, unique clothes while continuing our fundamental commitments to sustainability and ethical trading.” - Peter Simon, Founder
… With our founder’s vision to bring the beautiful, hand-worked fabrics of India and beyond, back to Portobello Market in London. Fast-forward to 2023 and Monsoon is turning 50.
To celebrate, we’re taking you on a journey from our bohemian roots to our bold, expressive vision of the future. Keep reading to immerse yourself in what is to come for Monsoon and be the first to discover our special anniversary collections.
What to expect this year?
Exciting things are coming... Save the dates – we’ve got limited-edition 50th anniversary collections and special events you won’t want to miss. Sign up to our newsletters to join the waitlist and shop them first.
Half a century later and we still stay close to our roots. Fast fashion has engulfed so much of the world, but we grow ever more passionate about the craft traditions in Asia.
One of our proudest achievements is reviving the hand-block printing process in Rajasthan, at a time when cheaper digital printing threatened to make it obsolete. Hand-block printing is not only an exquisite craft, but it supports whole communities in India, which are thriving today because of our support.
Seeing the difference that supporting craft techniques can make to entire communities led us to establish The Monsoon Accessorize Trust in 1994. Through annual grants and sales fundraisers, we support a range of women’s and children’s education, health and humanitarian projects across the globe.
All in all, we’ve raised over £7 million since we created the Trust to fund these efforts and improve the lives of approximately 240,000 people. One example of our work is the £250,000 we donated to Water Harvest in the last few years. This has enabled them to install roof-rainwater harvesting systems in homes, providing more than 4,200 people in the deserts of North-West India access to safe, clean drinking water.
