A one-room tailoring shop in Kerala's Cherthala and its owner Binu P A now bask in the fandom over a pink gown which has been shipped to the United Kingdom.
Designed with a train measuring 80 metres, the gown was commissioned for Olivia Michael, a Malayali nurse based in Australia. The order came through her sister, Dr Rintu, a family friend of Binu’s wife. “At first, they said the gown would need about 40 metres. But when I saw the design and measurements, I realised it would be much longer," says Binu.

The design, chosen by Rintu, was inspired by a Pinterest reference. “It was meant for an event, and I wanted it exactly like the model I showed him,” she says. “Since I’ve given clothes to this shop before, I knew they’d get it right," says Rintu.

The gown’s scale is staggering. Its last layer alone spans 218 square metres, while the full piece uses 94 individual fabric sections. “It’s made in three steps,” Binu explains. “The first layer used six metres, the second 45, and the third 47 metres.” He handled every stage himself, from cutting to stitching, completing the project in four days.

For Binu, who has been tailoring for years, this order stood out for both its size and sentiment. “I’ve never worked on something this huge,” he says. “When it came out perfect, we were all proud. It was a real test of patience and precision.”

The gown, now in transit to the UK, has already drawn attention in Alappuzha. Locals often stop by his shop to ask about the project that took their small-town tailor international. For Rintu, too, it’s a matter of joy. “It feels special to see something made here going abroad,” she says.

“It feels amazing that something made with our hands in Alappuzha will be worn halfway across the world,” says Binu, who learned tailoring in his younger days by working at local shops. Before starting his own outlet in Cherthala, he was employed at a tailoring shop in Kochi.