What do the six colour names mean?
EKVAAR’s six colour names come from Indian languages, each with a plain meaning behind it. Noor means light, Rui means cotton, Agni means fire, Neel means blue, Arav is commonly read as calm or peaceful, and Gulabi means rose-coloured. Together they form the six permanent colours of the house.
We did not want black, white, red, blue, green and pink. Those are just words for shades, and any brand can use them. We wanted names that carry a little of where we are from. Here is what each of the colour names means, and how it looks on a garment.
Noor Black
Noor means light. It is a word used across Hindi and Urdu, often for the glow of a face or the brightness of a room. Calling a black “Noor” is a small contradiction on purpose: the darkest colour in the house, named after light.
In practice Noor Black is the anchor of the range and the colour that goes with every other. It is available on the CORE Crew Tee (₹749) and most Solids pieces.
Rui White
Rui is the word for cotton in Hindi and Marathi. Cotton is the fabric most of our range is built on, so the white carries the name of the material itself. It is a plain, honest name for a plain, honest colour.
Rui White is the clean partner to the other five. The SIGNATURE Sweatshirt (₹1,149), a 300 GSM cotton fleece crew with ribbed collar, cuffs and hem, is available in it.
Agni Red
Agni means fire. In Sanskrit it is also the name of the fire god, the flame that carries offerings in old ritual. The colour is a deep red, not a bright warning red.
The colour also appears as a small mark inside another piece. On the SIGNAL hoodies, which spell EKVAAR in Morse code on the left chest, the very first dot is Agni Red. Everything else on the garment stays quiet so that one dot reads as the start. For a full garment in the colour, look at the CORE Piqué Polo (₹999), a 220 GSM cotton piqué polo.
Neel Blue
Neel is blue, from the old Sanskrit word for dark blue. It is also the word behind indigo, which is one of the oldest dyes in India. Our Neel Blue is very dark, a blue that sits close to black and looks calm in any light.
If you want colour without much noise, this is the one. The ORIGINAL Hoodie (₹1,299) in Neel Blue is a 300 GSM brushed cotton fleece hoodie with a lined hood and a front pouch pocket.
Arav Green
Arav is a Sanskrit-rooted name, usually read as calm, peaceful or a soft sound. We chose it for our green because the colour is deep and quiet: closer to a forest than to a leaf. It steadies whatever it sits beside.
Arav Green is not on every piece. It is on the CORE Long Sleeve Tee (₹799, 180 GSM cotton) and the FROST Oversized Sweatshirt (₹1,199), a heavyweight crew with dropped shoulders and a relaxed, boxy fit.
Gulabi Pink
Gulabi comes from gulab, the rose, and means rose-coloured. It is a familiar word in Hindi and across the subcontinent, used for flowers, sweets and much else. Our Gulabi Pink is soft and pale, lighter than the other five.
That lightness is why it works so well against darker colours. The SIGNATURE Sweatshirt is offered in it too, and so is the CORE Baby Tee (₹749), cut close and cropped short.
Why we chose these colour names
Colour names are something you say often. You say them when you order, when you tell a friend what you bought and when you look for the same shade again. We wanted those words to sound like where we are from, not like a paint catalogue.
The colour names also keep us honest. Because each has a fixed meaning and a fixed shade, we cannot drift into “dark blue” one year and “midnight” the next. “Neel Blue” means one thing. That is what makes the palette permanent, which is the point of having only six colours.
The same habit behind our colour names shows in our product names. AARU, for example, is Kannada for six. Ondu Rekha means one line in Kannada. Hostilu means threshold. We draw on Indian languages and try to keep the meaning close to the garment.
How the colour names show up in the shop
You will see the same six names in product titles, filters, your bag and at checkout. They are the only colour names we use for the permanent range. If a product page mentions a finer shade in its description, it is describing the fabric, not adding a seventh colour to the palette.
That consistency is small but useful. If you liked your Neel Blue hoodie, a Neel Blue tee will match it. You can reorder a colour a year later and know what you are getting, and you can gift a colour to someone and be confident it will sit with what they already own.
Which colour should you start with?
If you are unsure, the colour names offer a quiet guide. Choose Noor Black if you want the piece that goes with everything. Choose Rui White if you want something clean and light. Choose Neel Blue or Arav Green if you like colour but want it calm. Choose Agni Red for one piece with presence, or Gulabi Pink for a soft note against darker clothes.
There is no wrong first choice, since all six are meant to mix. Whichever you pick, the next piece will match it.
A quick guide to the six colour names
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Noor Black | Noor: light |
| Rui White | Rui: cotton |
| Agni Red | Agni: fire |
| Neel Blue | Neel: blue, indigo |
| Arav Green | Arav: calm, peaceful |
| Gulabi Pink | Gulabi: rose-coloured |
Using the colour names to build a wardrobe
Once you know the six colour names, ordering gets simpler. You do not have to guess what “slate” or “olive” will look like on your screen, because each name maps to one shade. To see how they work together on a body, read the six-colour wardrobe system. Browse the range by colour.
FAQs
What does Noor mean?
Noor means light. It is a common word in Hindi and Urdu, and we use it for our black to name the darkest colour after brightness.
What language are the colour names from?
They come from Indian languages, mainly Hindi and Marathi, with Sanskrit roots for Agni and Arav, and Gulabi taken from gulab, the rose. Each one carries an ordinary meaning: light, cotton, fire, blue, calm and rose-coloured.
Is Neel Blue really navy?
We do not call it navy. Neel Blue is a very dark blue, and it is the only blue in the palette, so the name always points to the same shade.
Are the shades the same on every product?
The six colour names are fixed and mean the same colour across the shop. Fabrics take colour a little differently, so a fleece and a tee in the same colour may look slightly different in light.
