I (Akshat) was working as an Investment Banker in Amsterdam. Nurtured in a family with a textile heritage spanning across 164 years, I must admit that the only thing, other than finance, I understood well was yarns and fabrics. As a family we had an atelier of 5 most exceptional tailors which became the foundation of this amazing journey of making bespoke shirts.

The philosophy had only one fundamental constant: craftsmanship.

Varvara and I looked into our way of shirtmaking and established that it would take 50 people to make a perfect handmade shirt. Then, we spent several months building a state-of-the-art factory in India, with a shirt quality that any other workshop would technically (and cost-effectively) struggle to achieve.

Our first customers were traditional tailors at Savile row, London. The moment they saw the shirt, they knew they had never seen anything like it.

 In February 2014, Varvara said “The world needs to see this art of work as a brand”, and we made our lives complex by launching 100Hands.  

Most stores had multiple brands of shirts in the store, so when we visited them the first reaction was often 'don't even think'. But we weren't traditional brands, so they gave us a chance to show off our shirts and tell our story.

 A common phrase came back:

 "No one has spoken of a shirt with such depth and love that we can feel it's alive."

 We remember that when we first met Mr. Sato san and his team Isetan in Japan, they all gave a standing ovation and the pressure to do better just increased.

Today, we are a team of 170 craftsmen but our dedication is still that of a small company.  

It’s like an extended family and we try our best in providing children education and best medical care for every family member of the artisan.

Our vision is to create a new standard of quality for the industry and we defend the idea that the excellence in a product comes from the craftsmanship - not from the country of origin.