interest in sustainability when I was studying Environmental Science, Geography and Sociology in high school. While in college, I was introduced to sustainability in design thinking. However, I have not undergone formal education or training in the field of sustainability. My passion for nature and community has led me to independently research and explore different aspects of sustainability like circularity and regenerative systems beyond the scope of fashion and design into culture, technology, food and architecture.

– Your personal profile
I am a final-year Fashion Design & Textiles student studying at the LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. I am extremely passionate about fashion ecology, circularity and design for sustainability. My current research explores sustainability in cultural practices, community engagement, natural dye practices, traditional block printing and regenerative production processes. I explore a variety of techniques using a mix of traditional and digital mediums to create textiles.
I have the experience of working as a Fashion Design Assistant to Kavita Thulasidas, a Sinaporean fashion designer, for the past year and a half. Under her, I have been working with traditional Indian crafts such as Kanchivaram weaves, Parsi embroidery and Kashmiri embroidery. I assisted her winning fashion collection at the Singapore Stories 2022 Design Competition titled ‘Heritage Reinterpreted & Beyond’. I have also been a Sustainability Intern at the Singapore Fashion Council’s Fashion Sustainability Programme during my summer break in 2022. I was assisting the planning and execution of the Be The Change Sustainability Season the took place in July 2022 including a fashion sustainability summit, a sustainability retail pop-up and a youth-led fashion sustainability exhibition.
I approach my work from a multidisciplinary lens and am constantly seeking opportunities to learn new things. I feel nature is at the core of everything I do - from design inspirations to working ecosystems. I find a strong sense of purpose in environmental consciousness and community building. I like to learn about history, literature and cultural practices which often inform my work. I enjoy writing, making jewellery, drawing, hiking, exploring new places and cooking.

- Your motivations in applying to the Challenge
Being a fashion design student and a sustainability enthusiast, the Fashion Values Challenge is an exciting platform for me. It is an opportunity for me to share my ideas as well as hopes and aspirations for a better fashion system that is grounded in respect for the makers and the natural environment. This academic year, as I work on my graduate fashion collection, I have decided to bring the Indian traditional practice of block printing to the global forefront. Sustainability to me is an extension of the inherent wisdom of my culture. Growing up in India, I have observed several aspects of respectful and caring production systems associated with handmade products like the Khadi cotton, natural dyes, handloom weaves and so on. These, unfortunately, got replaced with Western systems of production due to colonisation and subsequently, industrialisation. I am deeply moved by the impact of such an unsustainable system on society, culture and the livelihoods of the people of my country.
I realise that we have the responsibility of promoting our local culturally diverse ecosystems and imbibing care within a relatively mindless system we have become part of and accepted. This helms my intention for applying to the Fashion Values Challenge that puts society at the centre in this edition. This Challenge offers a myriad of learning opportunities and experiences which are valuable to me as a student eager to grow in this field. I am excited by the opportunity to explore sustainability in live industry projects and learn from the journey of realising ideas into practical solutions. The chance to receive feedback and mentoring from industry professionals is of great value to me in my learning journey. Through this endeavour, I am setting out to showcase a contemporary perspective of my Indian heritage that is culturally sustainable with a global outlook. In this application, I present my response to how fashion can value society.

– Have you been nominated to apply? If yes, who nominated you?
Yes, I have been nominated by my lecturer and supervisor at college, Victoria Elizabeth Ho.

Title of your idea:
Ratnagarbha: The Repository

Description of the idea (up to 100 words):
A fashion brand that promotes a locally Indian driven production system with the aim to address issues associated with global fashion systems such as unsustainable mass production and exploitation of artisans. The first proposal of this brand is a capsule collection that explores sustainability in the making of garments with a key focus on biodegradability while supporting block printing artisans in sustaining their craft practice. India, being one of the biggest producers for this industry, is inundated with problems of fast fashion including overconsumption, unhealthy working conditions, exposure to extreme pollution, loss of traditional crafts and ineffective waste management at the hands of the global supply chain. Against this context, I present how fashion can value society through systemic change.

A detailed description of your idea (up to 500 words):
The need for responsibility of the fashion industry towards community and nature has manifested like never before. I belong to a generation of Indian designers who have grown up surrounded with several local and global issues within the Indian fashion and textile industry due to mass production and westernisation that it is almost impossible to overlook them and not have the desire to alleviate them from society. I propose my graduation project, ‘Ratnagarbha: The Repository’, a womenswear capsule collection that challenges the current fashion system to change into one that emphasises the new requirements of a global society - sustainable systems, planet regeneration and community wellbeing. It is the first endeavour of my brand that is founded on two pillars: 1) placing nature central to all design and production decisions and 2) supporting cultural sustainability practised by craft communities to decolonise the fashion systems within India.

The term ‘Ratnagarbha’, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘repository of jewels’, is an epithet of the earth: the one that births every single thing we see around us. Inspired by ways of living of the Indian royalty, this project is a universal nod to the countless jewels that go into making fashion products - the art, the culture, techniques, materials, wisdom, the people, history, the tangible and intangible. The garments in my collection are made with natural fabrics such as cotton, silks and linen featuring textiles that are made by the traditional process of block printing. I am working with a community-based heritage textile studio, named Tharangini Studio, in India that has innovated organic water-based printing pigments inspired by natural dye practices for block printing. The blocks are carved by hand on teak wood and the motifs are then hand block printed on the fabrics. In key looks, motifs are stamped on a bed of faded florals digitally printed using environmental friendly technology, to evoke the memory of the old world charm that has inspired this project. Indigo dyed fabrics with plain whites and natural silks are complemented with an eclectic mix of crystals, glass beads, metallic accents and trimmings from nature.

At the core of it, every garment stands for something meaningful that comes from the earth and goes back to it, as the title of this project symbolises. It’s about a system that respects the earth’s resources while dismantling hierarchical systems that create social divisions. I believe cultural practices rooted in communities bear solutions to several contemporary challenges in sustainability which makes the use of block printing relevant to my project. Through this endeavour, I want to embrace systemic change where there is inherent care for our environment, respect for the makers of fashion and embedded value in the products we consume.

My proposal lays strong emphasis on a sustainable production system where the environment, which is vital to a healthy society, guides all design and production decisions and aims to re-address the issues around exploitation of artisans, disrupting the West driven system and vesting the power back into craft communities who are stakeholders in this collection. This collection is aimed at the global Indian women who want to feel elegant and powerful while simultaneously embracing their heritage. By steering away from a system that is devoid of value for the products created, I want to transfer the value upheld by the artisans, to my consumers, who have the power to choose goods that are made the right way. As a designer making products for the 21st century, I look at this as an intuitive responsibility.

Have you been nominated to apply by your institution?
Yes, I have been nominated by my lecturer at the LASALLE College of the Arts, Victoria Elizabeth Ho.

Project stage:
The project is currently in the production stage.