Handmade clothing brand "Darbaiseli", which has resumed production after a two-year hiatus, makes modern clothes with elements of traditional Kabalakhi (a men's and women's headscarf in western Georgia). The founder of the company, Ketevan Jincharadze, talks to BM.GE about the difficulties associated with the production of clothes.
"I started modeling modern Kabalakhi as a hobby in 2016. However, I had to stop for two years due to the pandemic and we resumed taking orders in the summer, 2022.
I have a great desire to expand the production, however, at this stage, due to the scarcity of resources, I am unable to do so. In the future, we intend to participate in grant competitions, because we will not be able to move forward without state intervention", says Ketevan Jincharadze.
The founder of "Darbaiseli" also talks about the demand for clothes with traditional elements in the Georgian market and notes that the interest from foreign citizens is much higher.
"It's true, we don't export our products, but we say that foreigners like Georgian traditional clothes very much and they buy more and bring them as gifts to their countries.
Realization of kabalakhs is done from home, as well as from chateaus. We actively cooperate with "Tsinandali". We try to maintain average prices. For example, the price of kabalakhi ranges within 100-250 GEL. Each kabalakhi is unique, as they don't like eaach other. The number of orders is individual and varies depending on the week, we prepared 10 pieces per week", explains Ketevan Jincharadze.
