KOCHI: Understanding and bonding with nature gives artists a sort of creative enlightenment that the rest of us cannot always grasp. If you look at designs by Jebin Johny, founder of Jebsispar, one of Kerala’s niche sustainable clothing brands that went national, his lust for nature’s colours is pretty obvious. But for this 30-year-old designer from Vazhakulam, whose designs have gone places in just five years – from Sonam Kapoor’s wardrobe in ‘The Zoya Factor’ to Vidya Balan’s at the FilmFare – it is very clear how fashion must be harmless to the planet.
Jebin’s peculiar artwork takes the spotlight in every design he creates. Fine elements of theyyam, banana leaves, the Kerala landscape and all that is nostalgic about God’s Own Country, finds its place in his garments. After pursuing BTech in fashion technology from Tirupur and Masters in fashion design and textiles from University of Northampton, he returned to India, only to be thrust straight into the country’s top fashion platform, Lakme Gennext, where he launched his brand in August 2015. “Initially, sustainability was not a priority for me. The clothes were being made in Tirupur, but once I visited the factory, I realised that things need to change. The workers were underpaid and the use of too many chemicals made me question the ethos of what I was doing,” he remembers.
Soon, Jebin shifted to more sustainable methods, researching them, and that is how he found out about Koothampally fabric and began working with a family of weavers there. “It was way better than where I had started – organic dye and ink and controlled use of water, a more sustainable way of looking at the brand,” he says. But since last year, he has been making entirely handmade products – sarees, kurta, dresses, and blouses, block printed by workers in Bengaluru.
The latest collection from him named ‘Invisible God’ is entirely handmade, and he plans to make the next collection the same way. But there are challenges. Sustainable, handmade products are always priced higher, merely because the brands involved pay the workers straight and fair. “It was hard when I started. When Malayalis think about it - the Kerala handloom that was always around, being priced so high would make little sense. We have many buyers outside of the state, including from Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. I have a store in Fort Kochi but explaining the price to an average Malayali client used to be hard,” he quips.
However, that is changing now too, he believes. “In the past couple of years, I think people in Kerala have grown a lot more aware of what they are buying and how it is made,” he says. Jebin, like most other brands, has taken the online route now. “If you ask me, the concept of a physical store wouldn’t be feasible in the near future. I myself would be apprehensive about shopping in a crowded place,” he adds. This lockdown, Jebin is exploring his bond with nature and revisiting childhood memories, watering his mother’s garden and watching the beans grow.