Frequently Asked Questions

About Myyra

Who founded Myyra and when?

Myyra was founded in 1999 by Madhu Chandra in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. She began making hand block printed textiles with a small workshop and natural talent for design and colour. In 2009, her son Siddharth Chandra left a software career to join and scale the business globally. The company was formally registered in 2010. Myyra is a women-led textile brand, with majority of artisans and core staff being women.

Where is Myyra based?

Myyra is based in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. All hand block printing, dyeing, washing, finishing, and stitching happens in our Jaipur workshop. We ship directly from Jaipur to homes, hotels, and brands in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, UAE, Canada, and across India and South Asia. There are no middlemen between the artisan workshop and the final buyer.

What does Myyra make?

Myyra makes hand block printed organic cotton home linen including bed sheets, duvet covers, dohars (lightweight cotton quilts), cushion covers, pillow covers, curtains, and floor cushions. We also produce table linen, kitchen linen, scarves and sarongs, apparel for women and men, kids and baby items including swaddle blankets, and hand block printed fabric by the yard. Beyond cotton, Myyra carries a range of next-generation sustainable fibres including lotus, banana, milk protein, peace silk, soybean, aloe vera, rose petal, bamboo, eucalyptus, corn, and orange fibre fabrics.

About hand block printing

What is hand block printing?

Hand block printing is a textile printing technique where a design is carved into a small wooden block, dipped in dye, and pressed by hand onto fabric. The artisan repeats the press across the length of the cloth, registering each impression by eye against the previous one. Complex multi-colour designs require a separate block per colour. The technique has been practiced in Rajasthan for over four hundred years. Each piece of hand block printed fabric carries small variations in pigment depth and registration; these are the signature of human work, not defects.

How is Myyra's hand block printing different from machine-printed cotton?

Myyra's hand block printed fabric is pressed pattern-by-pattern by human hands using wooden blocks carved by Indian block carvers. A factory-printed bedsheet can be made in hours using rotary print machines; a hand block printed bedsheet takes four to six days of cumulative human time across eight or nine pairs of hands. The dye soaks through to both sides of the fabric. The cotton softens with every wash. The slight variations are visible up close. These are signals of authentic hand block work that no machine print replicates.

About certifications

Is Myyra GOTS certified?

Yes. Myyra held GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification. In 2012, our team became the world's first to receive GOTS certification for hand block printed textiles - a milestone that took 18 months of supply chain rework, including organic fibre sourcing, GOTS-approved pigment replacement, and independent labour audits. GOTS audits the entire textile supply chain from farm to finished product. Myyra is also ISO certified and ZED (Zero Effect Zero Defect) certified for lean production.

What does GOTS certification actually mean?

GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certifies the entire textile supply chain - from the organic farm where cotton is grown, through ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, cutting, stitching, and packaging - is free of banned toxic chemicals, heavy metals, carcinogenic dyes, and synthetic finishes that release microplastics. It also requires fair labour practices: minimum wages, no child labour, freedom of association. Every link in a GOTS-certified product must be independently audited annually. Most "organic cotton" textiles are only organic at the farm level; GOTS closes that gap.

About shipping and orders

Does Myyra ship internationally?

Yes. Myyra ships worldwide from our Jaipur workshop. Active export markets include the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, and across India and South Asia. Both retail orders and wholesale orders are available. International shipping rates are calculated at checkout based on destination and order weight.

Does Myyra offer wholesale?

Yes. Myyra supplies designer labels, interior design studios, retail brands, five-star hotels, and B2B buyers globally. Wholesale buyers can order in bulk from our existing collections or commission custom hand block printed fabric to their own specifications. For wholesale enquiries, contact siddharth.myyra@gmail.com directly.

Does Myyra do custom hand block printing?

Yes. Myyra provides custom hand block printing services for designer labels and brands. We can carve new wooden blocks to your design, print on organic cotton, silk, linen, and other natural fibre bases, and produce in volumes ranging from sample runs to multi-thousand-metre orders. Custom orders typically take six to twelve weeks from approved sample to finished shipment. Contact siddharth.myyra@gmail.com to start a custom project.

About fabric care

How do I care for hand block printed cotton from Myyra?

For the first one or two washes, cold water wash separate from other colours, with mild detergent. Line dry in shade. Natural-dye pieces (especially deep reds and rusts) may release some excess dye in the first wash; this is normal and not a defect. After the first two washes, normal cool to warm machine washing is fine. Iron on the reverse side for prints that have a heavy ink layer. Hand block printed cotton softens and improves with every wash.

Will the print fade or wash out?

Properly fixed hand block prints do not significantly fade with normal washing. Myyra uses either natural dyes (madder, indigo, pomegranate rind, turmeric, iron rust) that are mordanted to bond permanently with the fibre, or GOTS-approved reactive dyes that have been independently tested for wash-fastness. Slight softening of contrast over years of daily use is normal and contributes to the heirloom character of hand block printed cotton. Our customers commonly use Myyra bed linen for 10 to 15 years.

About sustainable fibres

What is peace silk (ahimsa silk)?

Peace silk, also called ahimsa silk, is silk made the non-violent way. Conventional silk requires killing the moth inside its cocoon to preserve the long unbroken filament. Peace silk waits: the moth completes its lifecycle, emerges naturally, and the cocoon is then spun from the broken fragments left behind. The result is silk with a slightly softer, less lustrous feel and a different ethic behind it. Myyra sources peace silk for buyers who want the silk drape without the violence.

What is lotus fibre fabric?

Lotus fibre fabric is made by harvesting fine threads from lotus stems and weaving them into cloth. It is one of the oldest and rarest textiles in the world, traditionally practiced in only a few villages globally. The fabric is naturally soft, light, breathable, and almost wrinkle-free. Lotus fibre uses no chemicals and turns what would be agricultural waste (lotus stems) into a high-value textile. Myyra carries lotus fibre fabric as part of its next-generation sustainable fibre range.

What is the difference between organic cotton and GOTS-certified cotton?

"Organic cotton" describes only how the cotton was grown - without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or GMOs. It says nothing about what happens to the cotton afterwards. An organic cotton bedsheet could still be bleached with chlorine, dyed with banned azo compounds, or stitched in unsafe conditions and still be sold as organic. GOTS-certified cotton means the entire supply chain - farm, spinning, dyeing, printing, stitching, and packaging - has been independently audited and meets strict environmental and labour standards. Myyra's home linen is GOTS-certified, not just organic at the farm level.