Home-Grown Labels Which Are Making Upcycling Cool

With ‘fast-fashion’ almost controlling the global trend and retail currents, preserving and maintaining a vigilance over wastage seems to be an obsolete concept. So, how about taking a detour from the usual and reworking your discarded denim to create a jacket or reusing your mother’s old saree to create a dupatta or creating pouches from leftover rags. This art of creating sartorial finery with the leftover material or old items is termed as upcycling.

It is not just another environmentally conscious concept slated to be the season’s buzzword but as a practice, a variety of labels are embracing it and take it to the runways. Creating something meaningful from something worthless is nothing less than art and these labels are coming set to redefine the way fashion is consumed by engaging in more responsible practices.

Doodlage By Kriti Tula

Launched in 2012 by Pearl Academy graduate Kriti Tula, Doodlage boasts of being the premium Indian sustainable fashion brand. While standing amidst a mound of discarded fabric, the thought that stuck Kriti as a lightning bolt was, how to reuse this discarded material. And the result her cool, original and daring label. Breaking conventions the then 23-year-old designer took to her mood board with full conviction.

USP

Doodlage as a brand is a perfect blend of sustainability, with upcycling in specification and innovation. If you thought, creating jackets from olds rugs of clothes would paint a shabby image, the edgy outfits by the label will take on a ride. A fine balance of textures, embroideries, and colours, Kriti’s uncompromised send of style and dedication to responsible fashion makes Doodlage one of a kind.

Ka-Sha By Karishma Shahani Khan

A London School of Fashion graduate Karishma Shahani Khan launched Ka-Sha in 2012. With it’s languid and oversized silhouettes, tie-dye prints and exaggerated layering, Ka-Sha the label has forayed into the clique of cool.

USP

Karishma ensures that a strict no waste policy is followed. Be it reinventing waste as patchwork jackets, pieces of waste material sewed together to create skirts and even using the small bit and bobs of threads to create sartorial finery, upcycling remains Ka-Sha’s focal point.

Mrinalini by Mrinalini Gupta

Launched in 2008, Mrinalini Gupta’s eponymous label is about staying true to the roots. While training under Rajesh Pratap Singh, she designed her first zero-waste collection. Her relaxed silhouettes and experiments with earthy tones have broken a few moulds about sustainable fashion.

USP

This NIFT graduate got a sense of fashion’s tough frames and tried to loosen them up with her easy shapes. Making upcycling the focus her take on tunics, jackets and lungi shirts spell magic.

AM.IT By Amit Amit Aggarwal

The name is synonymous to theatrical couture gowns, pre-draped sarees and everything exuding grandeur. Designer Amit Aggarwal’s take on sustainable fashion is clear. It need not be boring. By far one of the most successful and regular-on-the-red-carpet designers has created pieces for the likes of Esha Gupta, Sonali Bendre, and Malaika Arora Khan.

USP

By using straws, bindi sheets, polythene bags and other industrial wastes, Amit is trying to move beyond the usual fabrics. Known for his love for old-school Banarasi sarees, the NIFT graduate is also responsible for introducing new concepts in the saree-scape with his upcycled take on the same.

The House Of Wondering Silk By Katherine Neumann

Born and brought up in Sydney, Australia, Katherine’s global experience as a humanitarian aid worker took her around the world. Intrigued by the rich textiles and embroideries she witnessed while on her travels around South, Central and Southeast Asia helped shape up House of Wondering Silk (HOWS). And in 2010 she finally launched her label in New Delhi.

USP

Besides other aspects of sustainability such as good working conditions and fair wages, upcycling seems to be the focus of HOWS’ products. It all starts with the identification of the upcycled materials and then in collaboration with NGOs, and other women’s cooperatives production is done. As a part of their upcycling initiatives their scarves and beaded necklaces have gained prominence. They source tattered silk sarees and work around them to create statement pieces. In 2012 they are started creating saree bead necklaces from the scraps from their Kantha scarves and shawls and since then, a number of artistic versions of neckpieces have been created