Hi! It's Taylor, designer and owner at Mata Traders. Today, I want to give you a bit of background on the design process behind our summer silhouettes, going beyond our dresses. What is takes to design the best women's summer pants, skirts and even shorts!
Every design season, I go through the same process. I'm looking at fabric samples, thinking about how they'll feel in July, and asking myself the same question I always come back to: will someone actually reach for this when it's hot?
That sounds simple. It's not.
Because hot-weather dressing is actually the hardest design problem. You need fabric that breathes but doesn't look limp. A silhouette that's relaxed without being shapeless. A print or color that feels intentional — not like you just grabbed whatever was easiest. And the whole thing has to be something a real person wants to wear on a real summer day, not just something that looks great in a flat lay.
Here's how I think through it — and the pieces from this season that I'm most excited about.
Start With the Fabric. Always.
Before I think about silhouette or print, I think about fiber. Natural fibers — cotton, linen, organic jersey — are non-negotiable for us in summer. They breathe differently than synthetics. They respond to your body. They soften over time in a way that makes them feel like yours.
Our artisan partners in India and Nepal are working with these fibers in ways that most of the fashion industry has forgotten about — small-batch yarn-dyeing, hand block printing, ikat weaving. The fabric itself has a story before we even start thinking about what shape it wants to be.
That's where every silhouette decision begins for me.
I wanted a pant that felt genuinely easy — not "easy for a pant," just easy. Wide leg, drawstring waist, something you can wear all day without thinking about it.
The Emmy in Vintage Rainbow started with the textile. Our partners at Mahaguthi in Nepal do this beautiful small-batch yarn-dyeing — the colors are muted, almost faded, like something you'd find in a vintage shop but brand new. I knew the minute I saw the sample that the silhouette had to be relaxed enough to let the stripe breathe. A wide leg was the only answer.
The slash pockets were non-negotiable. The adjustable self-tie means it works across a real range of bodies. And ankle length keeps it grounded — it's not a statement pant, it's the pant you grab first because you know it's going to work.
The Serena Short — The One That Took the Longest
I'll be honest: I go back and forth on shorts every season. The silhouette has to earn its place for us — it's a smaller canvas, which means the fabric and the details have to do more work and getting the fit just right, especially with POCKETS is something I'm really proud of!
The Serena exists because of the double ikat Blue Polka Dot. Creative Handicrafts in Mumbai has been our partner since the beginning, and their ikat work is genuinely extraordinary — the yarn is dyed before weaving, so the pattern has this beautiful softness at the edges, almost like watercolor. When I saw this fabric, I thought: this needs to be a short. Something you can actually see up close, move around in, really wear.
It's the most special short we've ever made. I mean that!
The dropped waist on the Sylvie was a deliberate choice. It's a contemporary silhouette — it has an edge to it — and I wanted it to push against what a midi skirt usually looks like and give it a bit of vintage flair without feeling dated.
The hand block printing on the Green Stripe comes from Aavaran in Udaipur, who specialize in a traditional mud resist technique called Dabu. Every piece comes out slightly different. There are small variations in the print, shifts in alignment, marks that tell you a human made this. I love that. We don't try to hide it — we think it's part of what makes the piece worth owning.
The handmade button and loop closure was the finishing detail that pulled it together for me. It's small, but it signals that someone thought carefully about this skirt from end to end. It looks great with a simple tee, cotton tank or our new fisherman sweaters.
Some pieces are quiet in the best way. The Isla doesn't ask for much from you it just fits, moves, and works, that's why I think of it as the go-to travel skirt. The soft organic jersey makes it wrinkle-free, easy to wear and with an adjustable waistband comfortable for summer exploring on hot days!
The cerulean slub organic jersey is made by Creative Handicrafts, and the slub texture is what makes it interesting without being loud. It's not flat cotton. It has a little dimension, a little life. The drawstring tie means it fits across a genuinely wide range of bodies — we carry it XS through 3X — and the midi length makes it wearable in ways a shorter skirt isn't always.
I think of the Isla as an anchor piece. It's the thing you build around. You already know how you're going to wear it before it arrives.
If I had to describe the Emma in one sentence: it's the skirt for those who love a vintage throwback A-Line fit skirt and classic pinstripe print, but want the modern natural fibers for everyday wear.
The linen-cotton blend is small-batch yarn-dyed — 80% cotton, 20% linen — and that ratio matters. Enough linen to breathe and have structure, enough cotton to drape and soften. The A-line cut was a deliberate choice for wearability.
Hidden pockets. Zip at the back. Below the knee. These decisions sound unglamorous but they're the ones that determine whether a skirt actually gets worn. I think about this constantly.
The Blue Stripe pairs with everything — a white tee, a linen blouse, the Mae Top if you want to wear it as a set. It's the kind of piece that I hope ends up being a wardrobe constant for someone, not a single-season buy.
These are not fast fashion pieces. They're made by people who care, from fibers that were chosen deliberately, in silhouettes that were considered from every angle. That's what I want every time someone reaches for something from Mata Traders on a summer morning.
xo, Taylor
Designer & Owner at Mata Traders
Fair Trade Fashion designed for your life!