Come winter and you start looking for the trendy woollens to keep you warm. Bringing you the best of both the worlds is this Fall/winter 2019 collection, created by The Woolmark Company in collaboration with fashion label Péro and Kullu-based wool weavers’ co-operative Bhuttico.
The range came to life at Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2019 and was launched at the Good Earth store, Khan Market, last week. These ‘Grown in Australia, Made in India’ textiles are renewable.
The Woolmark Company Country Manager (India) Dilip Gianchandani says, “From farm to finish line, we deal with wool at every stage. We continuously try to bring out the renewable and biodegradable aspects of Australian Merino wool to people.”
The variety of jackets, dresses, trousers and overlays in Merino wool handwoven by the weavers in Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), comes in a bright colour palette, featuring oversized floral appliqué motifs highlighted with Péro’s signature beadwork and hand embroideries.
Bhuttico chairman Satya Prakash Thakur says, “It has both our traditional Kullavi patterns and innovative designs. This is our fourth year of collaboration with The Woolmark Company. Earlier, we did fashion shows with them, and this time we created cloth using the wool provided to us. A total of 20 weavers made this cloth on the looms.”
The collection available in combinations of blue, navy, grey, khaki, brown and black signifies the importance of traditional craft and sustainability. Pero founder Aneeth, who has designed the collection, says, “We were inspired by the traditional textiles of Kullu and worked in harmony to create a collection in monochrome colours with tone-on-tone textures. It is an attempt to narrate the journey of Merino Wool from Australia to the looms, on to the runway narrowing down the gaps between places, people and crafts.”
The fabrics are woven using the extra weft technique where each thread is inlaid with hand to create patterns on the loom. Local weaver Nirmala Thakur demonstrated the making of a border at the launch event.
“Using the same technique, we also got designed tapes and borders locally known as kushi,” says Aneeth adding, “Here we used their skills to revive traditional textiles like ‘pattu’ that comes with a vibrant geometrical pattern,” she says.