Tailors are often the most overlooked members involved in the creative process in fashion designing. We, at Urban Darzi though, believe they are the most important.

Hailing from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh is Sateesh Kumar, our chief Darzi. As the main hand of our upcycling design studio, he has been giving life to our intricate, upcycled design ideas with his unique techniques and stitching abilities for over a year now. He started growing his tailoring practice 10 years ago and has grown and established himself as a very fine craftsman. Working for various garment making units over the years, Sateesh has perfected his craft with great poise, hard work and resilience. At 36, he is now a Master Tailor, giving life to our products with impeccable quality. 

When we first started Urban Darzi, we were looking for someone creative, someone who was willing to experiment, who would stand by our principles and grow with us.

The concept of upcycling and circularity was new to Sateesh but he was quick to understand. Ever since then, he has taken it as a personal challenge to always come up with aesthetic and functional pieces out of anything considered as ‘waste’. Bucket hats, co-ord sets, kimonos, jackets, shirts, Sateesh has made it all with material such as fabric scraps, discarded leather and even chip packets. (If you’re curious enough, you might just catch a glimpse of Sateesh modelling these for us on our Instagram)

“If we all re-use and recycle our own waste for ourselves then there will be no waste at all”- Sateesh Kumar on the problem of waste in the world.

His passion for quality tailoring and responsibility towards his kids are his strongest driving force. His son Govind, 16 and daughter Payal, 10 accompany him sometimes, watching him stitch and priding themselves in knowing that someone, somewhere in the world, is wearing what their father made. 

Sateesh lies at the heart of Urban Darzi, without him our products wouldn’t be products, simply ideas.