Chabella

Chabella launched in 2018 when textile artisans Lila Mendez and Ravi Kapoor turned their shared frustration with soulless mass-produced home goods into a small business focused on handwoven, culturally rooted textiles. The pair met while studying traditional weaving methods in Oaxaca, Mexico, and spent their first year selling hand-stitched pillow covers and throw blankets at local craft fairs in Portland, Oregon. All raw materials came from small, family-run farms in Peru and India, and every piece included a small tag noting the name of the weaver who made it. Customers loved the personal...

For the first two years, the brand barely broke even, as handwoven production was slow and far more expensive than factory-made alternatives. Most big retailers balked at the $80 to $200 price point for their core products, and Mendez and Kapoor maxed out two credit cards to keep the business afloat while they looked for a more sustainable sales model. They almost shut down in late 2020 after a warehouse fire destroyed 60% of their holiday inventory, a loss that wiped out nearly all their operating cash for the year and left them unsure if they could keep the business running.