The house of Riffat
Heritage threads, a modern hand
IKAT by Riffat began at a single loom-side table, with a love for the feathered edges of resist-dyed cloth. Every piece is designed in our Lahore studio, where traditional ikat motifs are re-drawn, re-coloured and stitched into clothing you can live in — from slow mornings to celebrations that run past midnight.
A note from the founder
“I wanted clothes thatcarry a story — andstill feel like you.”
I grew up surrounded by cloth — trunks of dupattas, a grandmother who could tell a weave by touch, and markets where ikat hung like stained glass. I fell for its imperfection: the soft, feathered edges that tell you a human hand was there.
IKAT by Riffat is my love letter to that cloth. We re-draw traditional motifs, re-colour them in the quiet palette of rose, terracotta and sage, and stitch them into pieces you can live in — for slow mornings, long workdays and celebrations that run past midnight.
Riffat
Founder & creative director
What we hold dear
Four threads run througheverything we make
01
Heritage
We work from the vocabulary of resist-dyed ikat — the diamond, the bloom, the feathered edge — and keep its soul intact.
02
Craft
Small batches, careful finishing, hand-applied details. Every seam is checked before a piece leaves the studio.
03
Comfort
Breathable lawns, cottons and silks cut with ease, so our clothes are as good at 11pm as they are at 11am.
04
Care
Fair work with our artisans, minimal waste and packaging that's made to be kept, not thrown away.
The Ikat Heritage
Dyed before it is woven
Ikat is one of the world's oldest textile arts. Threads are bound and dyed before they ever meet the loom, so the pattern lives inside the cloth — and its soft, feathered edges are the signature of the human hand.
- Bind (current)
- Dye
- Weave
- Stitch
01
Bind
Bundles of warp threads are tied by hand to resist the dye, mapping the motif thread by thread.
02
Dye
Each colour is a separate bath — rose, terracotta, sage — re-tied and re-dipped in sequence.
03
Weave
The threads are aligned on the loom; the motif emerges with its characteristic blur.
04
Stitch
In our studio the cloth is cut, finished and detailed into pieces made to last.
The journey
Stitch by stitch
2014
A loom-side table
Riffat begins sketching ikat motifs and stitching pieces for friends and family.
2018
The first studio
A small Lahore studio opens with three tailors and a wall of hand-dyed swatches.
2022
Artisan partners
We begin working directly with weaving families, building long-term partnerships.
Today
IKAT by Riffat
Pieces now travel across Pakistan and beyond — still cut and finished by hand.
- Years of craft
- 0+
Years of craft
- Artisans we work with
- 0
Artisans we work with
- Pieces stitched
- 0+
Pieces stitched
