{"id":2348,"date":"2020-01-17T12:13:08","date_gmt":"2020-01-17T12:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/?p=2348"},"modified":"2020-11-24T08:02:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T08:02:04","slug":"fashionfriday-umang-shridhar-with-archana-surana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/fashionfriday-umang-shridhar-with-archana-surana\/","title":{"rendered":"FashionFriday- Umang Shridhar with Archana Surana!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"western\">As we keep getting closer to Fashion Colloquia 2020, we\u2019re proud to present the #FashionColloquiaOnline series as a part of #FashionFriday!<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">This year\u2019s theme for Fashion Colloquia is \u201cHeritage\u2026 Stories of Change\u2026 Our Shared Future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">For this Fashion Friday, Umang Shridhar joined Archana Surana, our founder for a live video chat. Umang Shridhar is the driving force behind KhaDigi, a brand that revises hand-spun hand-woven fabric making khadi more accessible to contemporary culture and the Zara-obsessed younger crowds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">She was famously named in the Forbes #30under30 on the topic: \u201cDesign Intervention &amp; Its Impact on Craftsmen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Watch the full video here.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1MXQ80rsFXQ?list=PLJOVoHYGOYZlSJPj0tyJanqXslSuoa5fU\" width=\"789\" height=\"444\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nSome of the key talking points have been provided below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>The conversation started on the topic of working with big brands &amp; how they are impacting the environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> With KhaDigi you\u2019re taking it to the corporate world. You\u2019re working with big brands like Reliance and supplying them as well, when it comes to doing handcrafted products, definitely there\u2019s a challenge because people want standardization, they want consistency. So do you face challenges when it comes to the business in terms of rejection, because of non uniformity or do they really appreciate that this is the way it is?<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> It was a long process making Reliance our client. There was a lot of back and forth that was happening, you know. We were sending a lot of samples, doing smaller quantities, and making them understand that all this can really happen in khadi and you will have to accept it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">As a corporate, there have been a lot of rejections we have faced but now even our artisans are trained and we have convinced the corporates that a certain level of a defect will always be there with khadi and that people need to appreciate those defects. We use the best quality of cotton, we use the best quality of the dye, and we try to give the best quality of fabrics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Some certain level of defects will be there because it\u2019s hand-made. But we try to avoid defects like cuts not being proper. Those are the things we take care of. Otherwise, weaving defects will obviously be a part of khadi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Archana then talked a bit about the khadi influence on <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">ARCH<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span> with students who have created more than 70 ensembles in khadi. She also brought focus to Jaipur\u2019s famous textile industry and the role it plays in the city\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On Khadi as the fashion fabric for the young<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> There are a lot of young people who go to Zara, H&amp;M and find their fashion there, how do you convince them that khadi is the fashion fabric?<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> I was 22 when I started working on khadi. Initially, why we did digital printing on khadi was because I thought there were no colors, there were no prints. I think if I had to wear khadi, it has to be colorful and there should be a lot of quirky prints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">We have 150 kinds of new fabric that we have made in khadi and handloom that are for the young generation because its a 27-year-old who\u2019s working on khadi, not like a 70-year-old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">If a 22-year-old girl starts designing khadi, she\u2019s thinking about herself and what she wants to wear so we made t-shirts in khadi! We used bamboo, we used soybean waste yarn to make it soft and lustrous, to make it fall properly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">The designers we\u2019re supplying to, they\u2019re all young designers making beautiful jackets out of khadi using digital prints. There\u2019s so much to look forward to in khadi now as a fabric. I am very grateful to the upcoming designers. They were always great with their designs but the textiles available were not that great\u2026 and it was not for their generation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Now, we\u2019re giving them that fabric and they can design whatever they want to. As a young khadi entrepreneur, I\u2019m definitely seeking to work for my generation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On the fast-fashion trend and khadi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana<\/strong> asked about how KhaDigi is managing to work with big brands in an industry that is conflicted between the rising consumption of fast fashion and also a rise in activism towards sustainability and conscious fashion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> As a sustainable textile company, we always tell our clients and we always suggest that since we\u2019re moving towards sustainability in terms of textiles, you should stick to one textile for at least two seasons or three seasons so that the artesian doesn\u2019t have to shift.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">There\u2019s definitely mass-production which means more weavers will be getting jobs but we won\u2019t really change textiles every season\u2026 the brands are now very conscious about using the same textiles and coming up with new designs every season. Design-wise, they\u2019re bringing a lot of new things but textile-wise, we\u2019re sticking to the same textiles for, say, two seasons or three seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">I\u2019ll take a few names, like Reliance, they ordered the same fabric for summers and winters also. This is good because it\u2019s khadi which is cold in summer, hot in winter. So they understood the fact and they said we\u2019ll change in design but the fabric remains the same. So that way, sustainability is there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On circular fashion and khadi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> In the Western world, when you look at the fast-fashion business, one-third of all garments go to the dumping grounds where do you seem the big brands taking one-third of their products in terms of khadi sustainability and circular fashion is something we all want to understand well within the whole value chain. Have you heard some conversation around stocks being left out and what are we going to do with it? How have you been able to deal with those kinds of conversations?<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> The designers or the brands we\u2019re working with are not as big as what you\u2019re talking about. They\u2019re not as big as H&amp;M, they\u2019re not large-format retailers basically. They\u2019re still small in quantity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">And because it\u2019s khadi, people have not experimented with a lot of designs. Designs that you\u2019ll find are pretty basic, most probably a basic top or palazzo or a jacket that moves season by season. That is what\u2019s great about designing with khadi is that it\u2019s very classic and it remains for every season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">In synthetics, you have to bring in new prints, colors, and cuts every time. When I started wearing khadi my design became very classic, my persona became very classic. I have tops that last three years or four years in my wardrobes, you might be having sarees or dupattas for so many years. That\u2019s the habit that comes with using such textiles, you yourself become very responsible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">And I think that\u2019s why brands like FabIndia don\u2019t have many new designs every season. They have those same typical designs coming out for so many years and people go there to buy that only. So, I think, the designers we work with don\u2019t really face that problem.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On khadi in the international market<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> While we\u2019re talking about international markets open up to khadi, have you been able to figure out the positioning of khadi? Have you tried international brands as well?<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> We worked with some of the designer labels in London. What I understood from the international demands is that they don\u2019t want any colors, especially in the European markets when we talk about sustainability, the colors also should be natural and subtle there should be no color rather. They say that, in any case, dyeing is adding a lot of waste to the environment so they want to wear the natural, the grey, the coarse and also, they\u2019re using digital print because digital print doesn\u2019t use any water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">So, they are shifting towards more sustainable ways of using sustainable fabrics, unlike the Indian market. The Indian market might just use one way of sustainability and call the whole collection sustainable. But when international brands go for sustainability, they want to know where the fabric was made, whether the wages were paid properly. The international market is very sensitive and they\u2019re really looking forward to khadi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On women working in khadi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> What kind of numbers do you have onboard with you? The women and the men, the ratio that exists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> Right now, we\u2019re working with 300 spinners and around 200 weavers, so the count is around 500. In the weavers also, we\u2019ve around 50% of men and 50% women. We\u2019re trying to develop more master weavers as women because women are only in the ancillary activities in weaving specifically.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">In the clusters at Maheshwar, we have women weavers. In the clusters at Kasrawad, we have women weavers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>On the use of technology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> Where have you used technology in your business? In terms of automation, AI, and IOT.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> IOT is something we\u2019re using in certain parts, for placing orders and inventory management we\u2019re gathering craft data from artisans and creating a platform that will be live for others to use if there\u2019s a new entrepreneur who wants to work in Madhya Pradesh, they can go on that platform and directly find artisans they would want to work with.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">We\u2019re trying to identify artisans and give them a proper on the basis of their skill, on the basis of their productivity, on the basis of the quality that they make. So, that kind of identification of an artesian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Archana:<\/strong> So you\u2019re looking at creating an online marketplace for people to find the service providers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Umang:<\/strong> Yeah, kind of. Right now, what we are trying to do is actually to give identification to the artisans. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do. The customer can be anyone;\u00a0 a person who wants to be a designer or a textile designer who wants to explore the Madhya Pradesh market, it can be the Government who wants to reward their artisans, anyone! It\u2019s going to be a different customer segment but right now we\u2019re focusing on our beneficiaries for technology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><strong>Join us at the Fashion Colloquia 2020!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">If you love fashion and want to keep up with the latest, join us at the Fashion Colloquia 2020, an international research colloquium. This year\u2019s edition will be held in Jaipur from 26th to 30th January 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Hosted over a period of 5 days, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/landmark-events.html\"><strong>Fashion Colloquia 2020<\/strong><\/a> <\/span><\/span>will have tons of interesting speakers, events, installations, and research.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\">Don\u2019t miss your chance to experience the global event and keep watching this space for more thoughts about everything fashion and stay tuned for the next #FashionFriday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we keep getting closer to Fashion Colloquia 2020, we\u2019re proud to present the #FashionColloquiaOnline series as a part of #FashionFriday! This year\u2019s theme for Fashion Colloquia is \u201cHeritage\u2026 Stories of Change\u2026 Our Shared Future.\u201d For this Fashion Friday, Umang Shridhar joined Archana Surana, our founder for a live video chat. Umang Shridhar is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477],"tags":[598,599,600],"class_list":["post-2348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion","tag-fashion-colloquia","tag-fashion-colloquia-2020","tag-fashion-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2348"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2487,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2348\/revisions\/2487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archedu.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}