Kantha is a running-stitch quilting technique, historically used to layer and bind old cloth into something new and durable. This post is about how we make ours and what that means if you are buying at wholesale. If you are choosing a kantha quilt for yourself — vintage versus newly stitched, sizing, how to spot machine work — start with our buyer's guide, what is a kantha quilt.
It starts as printed cloth, not as a quilt
The cotton in our kantha quilts is produced the same way as everything else we make — hand block printed with azo-free, water-based dyes on 100% natural cotton, from blocks carved in our own workshop.
That is the part most buyers overlook. A kantha quilt is judged on its stitching, but the print underneath is what makes it recognisably ours and what you are actually differentiating on. Because we print it, a wholesale buyer can specify the design rather than choose from whatever a quilting unit happened to source.
Then it is stitched
Layers are laid up and joined with running stitch worked by hand across the whole surface, in our Jaipur workshop. The stitching is the structure — nothing is bonded or machine-quilted — which is why the rows drift slightly and the stitch lengths vary. Perfectly even rows would mean a machine had done it.
Why buyers stock them
The running-stitch texture gives a kantha quilt a tactile, hand-finished look you do not get from a machine-quilted piece. Commercially that matters for two reasons: it photographs well, and it comes with a craft story a shop assistant can tell in one sentence. Product that explains itself on a shelf is worth more than product that needs a label to justify its price.
They also sell across categories — bedding, throws, and a sofa layer — so one SKU covers more of a floor than its name suggests.
Ordering wholesale
Kantha quilts are available both retail and wholesale, made to order like the rest of our range — roughly 7–10 working days, longer for larger quantities, then DHL Express worldwide.
Our minimum order quantity is 25 units, varying by product category. Because each print is a separate setup, a first order of one design in several colourways is usually better value than several different designs — apply for a wholesale account to enquire.