INDIA PROUD

Consumers harbour a new sense of pride in wearing homegrown labels and investing in craft-centric designs.

- MANISH MISHRA

There was a time when handloom products considered were unrefined... Over the last decade, however, an array of indigenous, India-proud brands have managed to alter that perception to a large extent. Today, craft-based pieces—created with love, and realised from locally-sourced textiles—are hailed as impossibly-chic. Labels like Ekaya, Eka, Doodlage, and Shruti Sancheti have ushered in an era of the handwoven and the handloom, inhabited with an Indian soul, yet reflecting a global design sensibility.

Palak Shah, CEO of Ekaya Banaras, observes that the dated perception about textile-centric offerings is changing, but it still hasn’t changed 100 _ percent. There’s still a big market left to be tapped. Traditionally, the positioning of handlooms, in general, has been occasionwear primarily for Indian occasions). However, it needs to move into the couture space,” says Palak.

Ekaya’s campaign, Ambush, styled with a modern and experimental approach, was an effort to alter the perception of how handloom is viewed. For Ambush, my brief was that I wanted the handloom to be celebrated as something fun. I’ve always believed that the brand’s offerings need to be presented in a way people are going to accept it, while maintaining the sanctity of the craft,’ Palak adds.

In all of the _ brand’s communications, Ekaya mentions the number of hours that have gone into crafting each product. The idea is to make clients understand that they can get so much more use out of it, so they treat it with respect,” Palak shares.