After you place an order, the house prepares the piece in Dubai, dispatches it within one business day of payment, and the courier brings it to your door. The sections below follow the order step by step, so you know what to expect before you buy. If you are still choosing a piece, begin with our primer on how to buy a pashmina ghutra.
Step one: the order and the payment
You choose a piece from the Signature or Imperial collection, add it to your basket and pay at checkout. Visitors choose their country from the selector at the top of the site, and prices then show in their local currency. Where payment cannot be taken in the local currency, for example in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, the site shows prices as an estimate in the local currency and checkout takes payment in AED.
Once payment is confirmed you receive an order confirmation by email. Keep it. It carries your order number, which the studio uses if you ever write to us about the piece.
Most of the ghutras on the site are ready pieces held in the studio. A made-to-order piece follows a different path, which we describe near the end of this article.
Step two: inspection and dispatch
Orders are dispatched within one business day of payment. Before the piece leaves the studio, it is looked over once more in daylight. The studio checks the ground, the embroidered border and the hairline edge against the product page, so that what arrives matches what you chose.
A ghutra is a light cloth of 150 g, and it is handled flat. It is not pressed or folded along the embroidery lines. This matters because sozni work sits on the surface of the cloth, and a hard crease can mark the silk thread.
Step three: packaging
The piece is wrapped in tissue paper and closed with a cotton ribbon. It then travels inside an unbranded protective outer carton. The carton is plain on purpose. It protects the cloth in transit and does not announce what is inside, which many buyers prefer when a piece is sent to an office or a family home.
The packaging is deliberately plain, and the house does not add a card or an inscription. If you are sending the piece as a present, you may wish to read our note on shipping across the Gulf to plan the timing around the occasion.
Step four: tracking and delivery
When the courier collects the parcel, the tracking reference is shared with you so that you can follow the journey. Delivery times depend on where the parcel is going.
- Within the UAE, delivery takes one to two business days after dispatch.
- Across the wider Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman), it takes three to five business days.
- To all other countries, it takes five to ten business days.
Soznikar ships to most countries worldwide. Addresses within 50 km of the Dubai studio can choose free local delivery at checkout, which suits a buyer in Dubai or the nearer emirates who would rather have the piece brought directly.
The full terms are set out in the shipping policy. Please read it before you order from abroad.
Customs duties and import taxes outside the UAE
Outside the UAE, customs duties and import taxes are not included in the price shown at checkout. They depend on the destination country and on the courier, and they are set by the authorities there rather than by the house. A buyer in Riyadh and a buyer in London may therefore see different charges on arrival, even for the same ghutra.
We cannot give a figure for your country, because the amount depends on rules that change. Ask your courier or your local customs office if you want to know in advance. It is a better habit than assuming that nothing is due.
When the parcel arrives
Open the carton with care and take the ghutra out of its tissue. Check that the piece matches the product page, and look at the border and the edge in daylight. If it has arrived damaged or not as described, write to the studio at once. Damaged or not-as-described pieces are covered from every country.
Before you wear it, rest the cloth flat for a short while. A ghutra that has travelled folded will settle by itself, and you should not press it with an iron, least of all over the embroidery. For storage and cleaning, keep to the care rules of the house. In short, dry clean only, store folded flat away from direct light, and do not fold along the embroidery lines.
A note on timing
If the ghutra is meant for a particular day, such as a wedding, a graduation or a family gathering, count backwards from that date and leave a margin. Add the one business day before dispatch to the delivery time for your country, and allow a few more days for any customs processing outside the UAE. A parcel that arrives a week early costs you nothing, while one that arrives the morning of the event leaves no room to check the cloth or rest it flat.
Returns
You have 14 days to return an unworn piece in its original packaging, so keep the tissue, the ribbon and the carton until you are certain. For change-of-mind returns from outside the UAE, the buyer pays the return shipping. Damaged or not-as-described pieces are covered from every country, and in that case the studio will tell you how to proceed.
The conditions are written in full in the refund policy. If a return is accepted, the piece should come back unworn and in the condition in which it left the studio.
Made-to-order pieces
A made-to-order piece is woven and embroidered for you, so it follows a longer calendar. It takes six to nine months from order confirmation to arrival. There is a 48-hour cancellation window after you confirm the order, and after that the order is final sale. This is because the work begins on the loom soon after confirmation, and it cannot be offered to another buyer.
The reason for the length is the work itself. Weaving takes 35 to 70 hours of active work over two to four weeks, and sozni on a border can take months more. A light border takes about two months, a medium one three to four months, and master work six months or more. Speed is not what you are paying for with a piece of this kind, and the studio would rather say so plainly than promise a date it cannot keep.
Questions buyers ask
Can I change the delivery address after ordering?
Write to the studio as soon as you notice the mistake. Because orders are dispatched within one business day of payment, an address can only be changed before the parcel has left.
Will the parcel show what is inside?
No. The outer carton is unbranded, and the ghutra sits inside it wrapped in tissue paper with a cotton ribbon.
Which collection should I look at first?
The Signature collection carries sozni border work. The Imperial collection adds a large corner motif and a chevron border. Confirm the details on each product page before you choose.
In short
The path from order to doorstep is short and plain: payment, one business day to dispatch, tissue and ribbon inside a plain carton, then delivery in the time that fits your country. When you are ready, the Signature and Imperial collections are the place to begin, and the studio is available if you have questions before you order.