The Big Ten

As clothing label Sustain celebrates a decade of supporting Indian design, writer Varun Rana traces its journey

- Varun Rana

It was August 2018 and at Lakmé Fashion Week in Mumbai, Good Earth showed their first-ever clothing collection celebrating the craft of gota-patti embellishment, native to Rajashtan. To many who attended, this was Good Earth— purveyors of dining, décor, and home products—claiming their piece of the retail pie in the handcrafted apparel segment: From lifestyle to fashion, what could be more logical?

What most of them didn’t know, however, was that this fashion show—titled The Miniaturist, due to its detailing that needed to be seen up close—had been in the making for nearly a decade. Since Sustain’s inception in 2009, the brand had quietly offered several ready-to-wear apparel collections that championed age-old crafts, from handwoven textiles to hand-embellishments. “We chose to name it Sustain to remind ourselves that this brand cares about sustaining traditions, livelihoods, and the planet,” says Anita Lal, the company’s founder and creative director. Over its first nine years, Sustain had steadily garnered a clientele of loyalists including actors like Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut, and Kareena Kapoor Khan.