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VOGUE’S VICELAND
CONDE NAST AND VICE ARE JOINING HANDS
TO CREATE “PROJECT VS,” AN EDITORIAL
COLLABORATION THAT WILL LAUNCH IN 2018

16 NEW DELHI | THURSDAY|26 OCTOBER-1 NOVEMBER |2017

TURNING TRASH TO TREASURE

FOR SCRIBE-TURNED-
ENTREPRENEUR
MEGHNA NAYAK OF
LATASITA, A BRAND
DEDICATED TO
UPCYCLING SARIS,
SUSTAINABILITY
REMAINS AT ITS
CORE AS SHE
COMBINES ETHICS
WITH AESTHETICS
Karishma Sehgal

AT A time when sustainability and

environmental consciousness have
become the latest buzzwords in
fashion, several fast fashion brands
vie for a market share of socially
responsible buyers by making sus-
tainability commitments. For the
label LataSita, however, sustainabil-
ity is a matter of principle, not an
afterthought.
A few years ago, Meghna Nayak,
a journalism grad from Cornwall,
UK, aspired to become an environ-
mental journalist on her return to
India. It was then that she devel-
oped an understanding of sustain-
able living and the sweatshop-
led clothing industry. After
having worked with a news-
paper in Kolkata, seeing the
sheer lack of opportunity to
bring to light the immense
damage caused by fast
fashion (clothing indus-
try is the world’s second
largest polluter, Meghna
informs), she herself
decided to plunge into
the supply chain and
address the issue at its
core. Formed as a
result was the ethi-
cal fashion label,
LataSita, that
upcycles old saris
and gives them
a modern twist
by infusing
them with
“s t y l e a n d
s n a z z ”, a s
Meghna aptly
puts it.
“Upcycling saris is
not new in India. Our
grandmums and
mums have been
turning them into
Kanthas and the
more adventurous,
into kurtas, but
design-wise it was
usually the same
couple of products. It
wasn’t very high-fash-
ion, but a satisfying and prac-
tical use of fabric,” says
Meghna. “The idea was to go far
beyond kurtas and Kanthas, and
infuse the saris with the kind
of expert cutting that was
playful, directional and had
a g r o ov e t h a t p e o p l e
wouldn’t be able to resist, and to
uplift that piece of cloth lying
unused in your cupboard to a gor-
geous piece of bespoke fashion that
you would be proud to wear and talk
about,” she explains.
GREEN REVOLUTION: Other than saris, LataSita upcycles old tops, dresses, jackets, curtains, and bedsheets
Although the head was always bursting with used sari,” she confesses. basic body of every garment upcy-
idea behind start- ideas about how my existing clothes cled rather than a small part of it.”
ing LataSita was could be improved and I took plea- ETHICAL PRODUCTION Spreading smiles and sustainabil-
seeded by sure acting on it,” she reveals. With a small team of three tailors ity, Meghna realises that most of her
Meghna’s drive to who work under her close supervi- clients may not have an understand-
act upo n t h e BLEND OF NOVELTY AND NOSTALGIA sion, Meghna takes pride in the fact ing of or interest in the environmen-
unethical pro- Meghna believes that the fast- that LataSita has a transparent and tal impact of fast fashion.
duction of gar- fashion-loving, urban Indian short production chain. “Any cus- “I like to use LataSita and the pro-
ments and the woman is also one who holds on tomer can know exactly who made cess of making clothing to start a
exploitative to decade-old saris because of their their clothes and can personally conversation with my customers,
and cruel emotional value. come and see what conditions they many of whom have zero interest in
“I recognised the untapped are made in,” she claims. the environment and sustainability.
resource lying locally Customer engage- Many don’t even know about sweat-
in women’s closets DILUTION: ment, Meghna explains, shop fashion — they just want to look
with unworn saris. I LATASITA IS forms a crucial part of good. But they’re emotionally con-
saw that saris too get A UNIQUE the production process nected to whatever we’re making due
‘dated’. For example, CONFLUENCE at LataSita. “Each piece to the sari and it’s just a wonderful
the wide-bordered OF SOCIAL is the product of several way to start a dialogue about how
Kanjeevaram, or the HISTORY, conversations — clothing is made and the environ-
‘day-night’ saris of the MEMORY, between me and my cli- mental and human cost,” she says.
80’s, lay in cupboards. AND IDENTITY ents, who bring in their
I realised that preserv- EXPRESSED saris, and then between WAY FORWARD FOR LATASITA
ing the future meant THROUGH me, my tailors and the For Meghna, LataSita, a “unique
preserving the past,” FASHION AND cloth itself, where we confluence of social anthropology,
she opines. ART learn to work with each history, memory, and identity
With LataSita’s ‘Out piece’s strengths and expressed through fashion and art
of the Closet’ project, Meghna frailties and give it new life,” she adds. whilst being environmentally and
invites women to bring their old Meghna also calls attention to the ethically sound,” is evidently much
saris and transforms them into greenwashing culture that numerous more than just a fashion label that
expertly-cut, bespoke, frame-flat- fast fashion brands are pandering to. she has started. In the future, she
tering pieces in which, she She says, “I have seen the word aims to document the anthropolog-
explains, “only thread, elastic, zip, ‘organic’ bandied around complete- ical aspects of her work and travel the
hook, button and lining are new. ly irresponsibly and misleadingly in world, sharing stories behind the
Often fixtures and lining are upcy- several instances. With the term pieces, through a book or an exhibi-
cled, as I negotiate this space with ‘upcycle’, I have seen brands using tion. “I want to continue to be able
methods practiced in the sweat- women who have preconceived only a token patch, piping or pocket to combine ethics and aesthetics and
shops that she learnt about at the negative notions about ‘old’.” that would barely qualify them to use get people to engage and re-engage
time she was studying journalism, Apart from saris, Meghna also the term, but they do. I have to coun- with textile and fashion on an emo-
her tryst with upcycling is not a new upcycles old tops, dresses, jackets, ter this through customer awareness tional level — the only level you actu-
one. “I’d always customised my own jeans, curtains, and bedsheets. to ensure the movement is not sub- ally have to communicate for art to
clothes since I was a teenager. My “The medium I love though is the verted. I strive to have the core/bulk/ exist,” she concludes. n

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