Saved by the stitch: Why more Mumbaikars are embracing upcycled fashion

City-based communications professional Misha Paul has been wearing upcycled clothes since well before the word became popular. The concept was introduced to her by her mother, who has been cutting up and refashioning clothes for as long as she can remember. She explains, "I've grown up seeing my mom upcycle old clothes and saris into curtains, pillow covers, bedsheets etc." In fact, Paul herself upcycled her first item very early on. "I couldn't find a purple lehenga in my budget for a very close friend's wedding. So, I took my sari to a tailor and told him exactly what I wanted and it turned out well," she adds.

The last two years have seen many thrift stores mushrooming online. Mostly driven by people who found time to sort out their cupboard during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ‘pre-loved' clothing movement is being popularly adopted by young people. Against this backdrop, the upcycling of clothes has become really popular too. Especially for those who find it hard to let go of old favourites, this is ideal.

Upcycling came naturally to Paul, and thrifting followed a few years later. It was her love for converting old pieces of clothing into something new that made her also start her own capsule label called Love Again in 2019. She explains, "I wanted to showcase the fun of upcycling to people. The label was born because people have saris and don't know what to do with it." Paul started out by making modern cuts out of her own saris to show people "how magic can happen out of any piece of garment". "I have even upcycled chindis (scraps of cloth) into tops, bags and belts," she adds. The idea was to simply reduce waste owing to her interest in sustainable fashion.

Giselle Mascarenhas has been upcycling her clothes ever since she learned stitching in 2017. It gave her the opportunity to convert the old clothes she wasn't using into new trendy designs (right). Photo: Giselle Mascarenhas

Stitch in time
Giselle Mascarenhas, another city-based fashionista took to upcycling too, during the pandemic-led lockdowns. She took to upcycling like a duck to water, simply because she had already learnt the art of stitching a few years before that. She explains, "I had learnt stitching in 2017 when I took a break for one year to study for my CET exam to get into an MBA college." Since Mascarenhas had a lot of time on her hands and a sewing machine at her disposal, it only fuelled the idea of her wanting to create her own clothes. However, the 26-year-old couldn't take it any further then because she got busy once college started.

In 2020 when the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns hit, the hedge fund administrator went back to making her own clothes. "Work-from-home cuts out all the travel time. So now, I find time to stitch even on weekdays," she says. The skill gave her the opportunity to not only stitch new pieces but also to upcycle her old clothes, which she wasn't using anymore. Two years on, she spends at least 1.5-2 hours on weekdays and more hours on weekends to create new designs. "I have a lot of clothes which I've bought over the years that I don't wear anymore. They are still in good condition, so I wanted to turn them into something that I would start wearing," she adds. This personal initiative has given Mascarenhas the opportunity to experiment with different styles and learn more about them every day because these are still initial days.

However, she is realistic about the challenges of upcycling and moving completely towards sustainable fashion. "I don't have the time to stitch all I want. It is just quicker to buy clothes. So, I don't think I can completely stop buying fast fashion," she points out. While the Mumbaikar is currently upcycling her old clothes, she hopes to experiment with thrifted clothes in the future too. "I do hope that someday everything in my wardrobe would be made by me," she dreams.

City-based stylist Chandni Sinha started her label Ikigai by CS in 2019 and has since used old saris and dupattas to create something new out of them. The oversized shirt (right) is part of a collection she launched along the way. Photo: Chandni Sinha

For a sustainable future
Like Paul, Chandni Sinha, another Mumbai-based stylist started upcycling for herself because she wanted new clothes but didn't want to invest in fast fashion because it is too commonplace . This made her raid her mother, grandmother and aunt's wardrobes for saris that they weren't wearing anymore to create dresses for herself. She says, "When I saw them, I realised I know the designs that I want. That's when I thought, why don't I make this into a small-scale business?" So, in mid-2019, she started Ikigai by CS, an upcycled unisex gender-fluid fashion label. She uses saris and dupattas to create new pieces of clothing like maxi dresses, flowy beach dresses and pants among others. In fact, her first collection was one of oversized shirts because everybody loves them.

It did not take long for people to ask Sinha to create clothes for them after they saw her wearing them.
She shares, "There was a girl who had a scarf but wasn't using it so I made a poncho out of it." It was also the fact that she is in the thick of the fashion trade that made her want to do her bit by encouraging a sustainable lifestyle. "Being a part of the industry, I read a lot about how much pollution fashion creates because of the dumping and wastage of fabric," explains Sinha, who has been a stylist for the last seven years. Taking a cue, Sinha has slowly started substituting her fashion choices by buying from thrift stores rather than fast fashion brands over the years.

Interestingly, the Mumbaikar still doesn't consider herself an expert just yet because it has been a learning experience and one that has been growing on her only in the last five years. "I have been visiting Amsterdam a lot in the last few years and I see that their lifestyle is so sustainable. The first time I went, I visited so many thrift stores. There is so much awareness about not buying fast fashion there and I also visited the sustainable fashion museum there. All of this aided my ideas and I realised I really wanted to do this and make a change," she explains.

Misha Paul started her own capsule label Love Again in 2019 and has been upcycling saris and clothes donated by people who aren't using them anymore to create new designs (above). Photo: Misha Paul

While many businesses were affected during the pandemic, Sinha says hers boomed because it was at a time when online deliveries were still difficult and people were getting to know about her through word-of-mouth. Even though she has achieved initial success, Sinha says there is a certain perception about upcycled fashion especially in India. She explains, "It is still a niche market because people translate ‘upcycled clothes' as ‘used clothes'. I feel it is a cultural thing in India but that is changing as some people find it fashionable to wear upcycled clothes now."

To bridge that gap, when Sinha started out, she asked her friends and clients to bring their own clothes so that they don't feel like she is making them wear her clothes. "All the saris and dupattas are treated so that they don't come apart or bleed," explains the Mumbaikar. Sinha has high hopes for the brand but is faced with the challenge of disappearing tailors, who haven't returned since they went back home during the pandemic. However, she is hopeful of making it into a full-time business after she has tied up her loose ends this year.

While Sinha is excited to upcycle full-time, Mascarenhas is also itching to do more than she already does. As for Paul, she is settling into a new job and wants to take it slow but for starters, she intends to learn sewing just so that she can create more designs by herself in the future.