Following the economic repercussions due to COVID-19, fashion is one industry in the luxury segment that has been hit the most, and has had to do a 360 degree turn. Luxury wear is now wears a price tag that doesn’t burn a hole in the pockets of the customer and the manufacturers as well.
Rising to this shift, fashion designer Sajal Jain, 24, has set up Insom, a brand of upcycled clothing wherein discarded pieces of clothing are transformed into attractive new designs.
“Before setting up the brand, I did some research and found that even the big manufacturing clothing businesses were flawed in their overall approach, and the end process would leave lots of leftovers with no ready takers. Up-cycling seems to be the perfect platform right now,” says the graduate from Ecoavid School Of Ethical Design Studies (Kolkata).
When did the idea of up-cycled clothes strike you?
Up-cycle, re-cycled or sustainable fashion is very close my ideology. I have been brought up in complete harmony with nature. When I was toying with the idea of starting my own label, I came in contact with an international organic fabric manufacturing industry and got to know the amount of waste such as leftovers, defective and surplus fabrics, they were sending to the landfills. I realised I wanted to save as much fabric as possible from going into the landfills. I wanted to promote sustainability and ethical working process
You say you want to be ‘an agent of change’, but many think it below their dignity to use up-cycled products.
This is the mind-set I want to change. When people buy a branded garment, they don’t have any idea where and how it is produced. They buy because others are buying it. I want to turn people into conscious consumers. I make my collections from fabrics others discard as waste. I look at those fabrics as an opportunity to make a contribution towards the climate change crisis. Each of my designs saves water and reduces air and land pollution. I want people to feel proud of wearing my garments
Which section of society are you targeting these clothes?
My aim is to change the society, break down the walls between different sections, and bring people together in support of sustainable fashion. We try to make people aware about why they should opt of an up-cycled or organic piece of clothing above all the other options available. We try to focus on youth because if we make sustainable fashion as their staple choice, we will not have to teach the future generations the importance of sustainability. They will grow up knowing it as the only way of fashion
You only focus on womens’ wear. What about men?
I plan to venture into menswear soon, but before that I want to launch my zero-waste kids’ collection that is being designed. Right now, we have some funky gender-neutral fashion accessories and jackets.
How competitively are these garments priced?
The price ranges between Rs 2,000 and Rs 12,000, lower than most of the brands offering organic clothing. I want to make sustainable fashion affordable so people can easily replace their wardrobe.
The collection is available at:www.jhelum.in, www.6degree. store, https://www.in-d.co