Last week, Shimla was blanketed in a fresh layer of snow, the IMD issued cold-wave alerts for Delhi, and parts of Rajasthan recorded near-zero temperatures. In Chennai, however, winter barely registered. The city is already preparing for summer.
That makes the timing apt for The Summer House, the Bengaluru-based conscious fashion label, which is bringing a pop-up to Chennai this week at Studio Samasta, a curated multi-designer boutique.
“We will be bringing all our classic styles that have worked for The Summer House for over 10 years now, along with our recent collections,” says brand manager Puranasri Ganesan. “These are styles that can work anywhere from a vacation to a holiday, a date, an intimate dinner, or even a party.” The edit reflects the brand’s long-held approach to clothing that is not occasion-bound or trend-led, but designed to move across settings and seasons with ease.
Fabric sits at the centre of the brand’s design and production decisions, with an emphasis on materials that can withstand heat, humidity, and frequent wear. The Summer House works with GOTS-certified cotton, handloom linen, zero-dye khadi, and recycled denim, sourcing exclusively from Indian mills, vendors, and artisan clusters. “We’re very particular about the fabric we source. It has to be sustainable,” says Puranasri.
The Summer House works with hand processes, relying on artisan-led techniques. Hand block printing, Batik, marbling, and hand embroidery run through the collections, executed by artisan clusters across India. Machine embroidery is deliberately avoided, and familiar techniques are reworked to sit within a contemporary design language. “We use traditional techniques, but we create contemporary garments. When people think of block prints, they usually imagine florals, we try to make them abstract and modern,” says Puranasri.
“Chennai works really well for us because of the weather and the kind of clothes we make. We don’t follow trends, we design pieces that last, and that’s something the city responds to,” says Puranasri. The city’s climate and dressing sensibility make it a natural stop for the brand’s pop-up circuit. The emphasis on breathable fabrics, muted palettes, and silhouettes that prioritise ease aligns closely with how the city dresses through most of the year. Rather than curating city-specific capsules, the brand approaches Chennai as a place where its core philosophy already fits.
At the pop-up, the emphasis is as much on engagement as it is on retail. Visitors will be able to browse across collections, place made-to-order requests, and explore colour and size customisations, while also getting direct styling input from the people behind the brand. “Rekha (Rekha Datla, co-founder) and I will be there on all three days, styling customers, helping them find what works best for them, and taking orders, including customisations,” says Puranasri.
The Summer House will host their pop-up at Studio Samasta, Alwarpet from Februrary 5 to 7, 11am to 7pm.
Published – February 04, 2026 05:08 pm IST
