Privacy Policy

1. Overview & Studio Identity

The Look Department ("TLD", "we", "us", or "our") is an independent commercial fashion creative production studio based in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, operating globally via https://thelookdepartment.in.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how that information is used and protected, and the choices available to you when you visit our website, submit a project brief through our interactive Project Desk, or communicate with our studio.

2. Information Collected via The Project Desk

When you initiate an inquiry through our Project Desk at /contact, we collect only the information you deliberately provide to us in order to evaluate your project:

• Contact Information: Your full name and business email address.
• Brand & Studio Details: Your brand or company name, website URL, and/or social media profile handles (e.g., Instagram).
• Project Specifications: Selected creative discipline (E-Commerce, Campaign, Lifestyle, Paid Social, Content System, or Bespoke Creative Direction), expected production timeline milestone, and anticipated budget tier.
• Creative Brief: Collection descriptions, aesthetic references, garment details, or specific deliverables submitted in your project message.

Note: Our contact form incorporates an invisible verification field ("honeypot") used solely by our server to identify and discard automated bot submissions. Information entered into this field is evaluated in temporary server memory and is never saved or retained.

3. Technical Information & Security Logging

When an inquiry is submitted through our website, our server automatically records standard technical connection data:

• IP Address: Your device's IP address is evaluated in temporary server memory to enforce rate limiting (preventing automated server flooding and repeated submissions) and is stored alongside the inquiry record to maintain studio infrastructure security and prevent abuse.
• Timestamp: The date and time of your submission (recorded in UTC).
• Submission Source: An internal tag indicating that the inquiry originated from the studio Project Desk.

4. Use of Personal Information

We use the personal information collected through our website strictly for legitimate commercial studio purposes:

• Inquiry Evaluation: Reviewing your collection details, scope, and aesthetic goals to determine studio availability and prepare tailored creative proposals.
• Direct Correspondence: Communicating directly with prospective clients via email regarding their project briefs.
• Transactional Receipts: Generating an automated confirmation email to acknowledge receipt of your submitted brief.
• Infrastructure Security: Applying server-side rate limiting and duplicate-submission detection to protect our web applications from automated spam and denial-of-service attempts.

TLD does not sell, rent, lease, or monetize your personal information or creative references with third-party data brokers or marketing agencies.

5. Database Storage & Infrastructure (Supabase)

Project inquiries submitted through our website are stored in a private cloud PostgreSQL database hosted by Supabase. Access to this database is protected by Row Level Security (RLS) policies that strictly deny public read access. Database records can only be accessed through authenticated, encrypted server-side requests executed by our application backend.

6. Transactional Email Processing (Resend)

We process inquiry payloads through Resend, a transactional email delivery service, solely to dispatch:

1. An internal notification alert to our studio inbox (thelookdepartment.studio@gmail.com) containing your submitted brief and setting a direct reply link to your email address.
2. A branded confirmation receipt to the email address you submitted acknowledging that your brief was received.

7. Hosting & Network Transmission

Our web application and server-side endpoints are hosted on cloud application infrastructure (Vercel). All communications between your web browser and our website are encrypted in transit using standard Transport Layer Security (HTTPS/TLS).

8. Retention of Personal Information

Uncommissioned Inquiries: Personal information relating to uncommissioned inquiries may be retained for up to 24 months from the date of the inquiry, unless a longer retention period is required by applicable law or is reasonably necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Commissioned Client Records: For individuals and brands that enter into an active commercial engagement with TLD, the 24-month rule does not apply to their project or business records. Client records—including executed production contracts, statements of work, commercial invoices, financial records, project correspondence, and delivered production files—are maintained separately from web inquiries and are retained for the period reasonably necessary for business, accounting, legal, and contractual purposes, subject to applicable law.

9. Cookies, Analytics & Tracking Technologies

Based strictly on the current implementation of our website:

• No Tracking Cookies: We do not set or read persistent tracking cookies, advertising identifiers, or profiling cookies.
• No Third-Party Analytics Beacons: We do not currently load behavioral tracking scripts, heatmaps, or analytics platforms (such as Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or LinkedIn Insight Tags).
• No User Accounts: We do not provide visitor user accounts, customer logins, or persistent profile dashboards on this website.
• No On-Site Payment Processing: We do not collect or store credit card numbers, debit cards, or banking credentials through this website. Commercial invoicing and payments are handled separately from this website.

10. International Data Processing

The Look Department is based in India and collaborates with fashion brands and creative directors globally. Our hosting, database, and email infrastructure providers (including Supabase, Resend, and Vercel) may store and process information on servers located outside of India or outside of your home country. By submitting an inquiry through our website, you acknowledge that your information will be transmitted and stored on these technical systems as necessary to evaluate and process your request.

11. Data Security

We implement technical and organizational safeguards designed to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, loss, or alteration, including HTTPS/TLS encryption, server-side data sanitization, isolated environment credentials, and database access controls. However, because no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage system can be guaranteed as completely impenetrable, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. Privacy Rights & Contact Requests

Depending on your location and subject to applicable legal exceptions, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you.

If you have submitted an inquiry through our website and wish to review, update, or request the deletion of your personal data, please write to us at thelookdepartment.studio@gmail.com or studio@thelookdepartment.in with the subject line Data Privacy Request.

We aim to respond to verifiable privacy requests within thirty (30) days, subject to applicable law. Please note that we may request verification of your identity before fulfilling your request, and certain records may be retained where required by law or necessary for ongoing legal obligations.

13. External Links

Our website includes links to our official social media profiles on external platforms (specifically Instagram @thelookdepartment and LinkedIn). We do not control and are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or policies of those third-party services. We encourage you to review their respective privacy policies when visiting those sites.

14. Children's Privacy

The Look Department provides commercial B2B fashion creative direction and production services. Our website and services are intended for businesses and professional clients and are not directed to individuals under eighteen (18) years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors.

15. Policy Updates & Studio Contact Information

We may revise this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our operational workflows, technology infrastructure, or legal requirements. Any modifications will be posted directly on this page with an updated Effective Date.