Buying Lucknow chikankari from India when you live abroad

One check, done from the inside of the garment, tells you whether you are buying hand embroidery or a machine copy.

Yes — you can buy chikankari from Indian shops even if they do not deliver to your country. India Rabbit gives you a free delivery address in India. You order to that address as an ordinary domestic customer, we receive and hold the parcel free for 30 days, combine it with anything else you buy, and forward the lot to you.

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Why this is hard to buy where you are

Lucknow Chikan Craft is GI-registered and almost everything sold abroad as chikankari is machine-embroidered. The test is unusually simple and completely reliable: turn the garment inside out. Hand chikankari shows knots, thread overlaps and shadow work on the reverse. Machine embroidery looks identical on both sides. Buying from Lucknow sellers who name their stitches gets you the real thing at a fraction of what the copy costs in a shop abroad.

Where to buy it

Shop	What they are good for
Ada Chikankari	The most technically explicit seller we found. Names the actual stitches used on each piece, which is the clearest signal of hand work there is.
Nazrana Chikan	Lucknow shops behind the website, with bridal pieces as well as everyday kurta sets.
The Chikan Label	Lucknow-based with direct artisan partnerships, and publishes its own hand-against-machine buyer guidance.
iTokri	Unstitched chikankari kurta and suit material by the metre at craft-store prices, with gram weights on the product pages.
House of Chikankari	Widest range of silhouettes beyond the classic kurta. Their listings do not state hand or machine, so ask first. If any of these cannot deliver to your country, your Indian address makes it a domestic order.

Chikankari sellers are mostly small Lucknow businesses, and overseas orders are handled case by case when they are handled at all. An Indian address makes you an ordinary domestic customer, which is the only kind many of them are set up to serve.

What to check before you order

Turn it inside out. This is the decisive check. Hand chikankari shows knots, thread overlaps and visible shadow work on the reverse; machine embroidery looks the same on both faces. Ask for a photograph of the inside before buying.
Slight unevenness is the signature of hand work, not a defect. Perfectly identical, evenly spaced stitches mean a machine made it.
Real chikankari is worked on soft breathable grounds — mulmul, cotton, chanderi, modal, linen. A stiff synthetic base is a strong sign of machine goods whatever the listing says.
A seller who can name the stitches in a piece — tepchi, bakhiya, phanda, murri, jali — is telling you something a seller who only says chikankari is not.
Decide whether you want finished garments or unstitched material. Buying the fabric by the metre is cheaper and lighter to ship, but it only makes sense if you have a tailor where you live.

Weight, customs and getting it here intact

Weight

The lightest category on this site. Two metres of hand-embroidered mul cotton suit material is about 280g, from a seller that weighs its own stock. A finished kurta is not much more. You can fit a great deal of chikankari into the cheapest weight band, which makes it the best-value thing here to buy several of at once.

Volume

Soft cotton compresses well and takes almost no space. Volumetric weight effectively never governs a chikankari parcel, even a large one.

Customs

Values are usually modest enough to sit under the threshold where you live, especially on cotton everyday pieces. Bridal chikankari is a different matter and will often clear it. Check what your destination allows.

Condition

The embroidery is fine white thread on pale cloth and it marks easily. Pieces are kept in their own tissue rather than packed against anything dyed, and we photograph them on arrival so you can see the work before it flies.

Work out the exact cost to your country

Where we send it

Pick your country for transit times and customs notes.

Questions

How do I know it is hand embroidered?

Turn the garment inside out. Hand chikankari leaves knots, thread overlaps and shadow work visible on the reverse. Machine embroidery looks identical front and back. It is the one check that is both simple and conclusive, and you can ask the seller to photograph it.

Is uneven stitching a defect?

No, it is the evidence. Hand work varies slightly from stitch to stitch. If every stitch is identical and evenly spaced, a machine made it, and it should be priced accordingly.

Should I buy fabric or a finished garment?

Fabric is cheaper and lighter, but only useful if you have a tailor. Finished kurta sets are the safer default, and sizing on them is more forgiving than on a fitted garment.

How much does it cost to send?

Very little by the standards of this catalogue. Chikankari is light and compressible, so several pieces usually travel in the cheapest band. Put the real weight into the calculator once you know what you are ordering.

Can I combine orders from several Lucknow sellers?

Yes, and you should. Each one delivers domestically to your Indian address, everything waits free for 30 days, and one box flies instead of four.

Order it like you live in Kerala

Your free Indian address takes a minute to set up and works on your very next order. We hold parcels free for 30 days so you can combine them into one box.

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