An Indian and two Spaniards have set out to revolutionise the way we buy clothes, and who we credit as its makers
An Indian and two Spaniards have set out to revolutionise the way we buy clothes, and who we credit as its makers
The person behind the label is bigger than the brand. At least that's what the I Owe You project (IOU), an e-commerce social networking venture that manufactures and retails one-of-a-kind handmade clothes online, believes. The site that went live last Thursday intends to bring the nameless weaver and designer behind retailed clothes, into the limelight. 
Connecting the dots: IOU online documentation maps the weaver
in Tamil Nadu with a designer in Italy, and finally a customer
who could be anywhere in the world
When you buy an IOU garment, you get involved in the garment's journey, right from the time it was woven by a weaver in India to the designer sitting in Italy who shaped it. Started in 2009 by Madrid-based designer and entrepreneur Kavita Parmar, who hails from Gorakhpur in UP, with husband Inigo Puente (CEO) and friend Enrique Posner (Chief Technology officer and Head of business development), IOU focuses on Madras checks in the form of a two-metre fabric known as the lungi handwoven in Tamil Nadu.
"I thought the name reflected the spirit of the project perfectly. If we could all say 'I owe you' to ourselves, the community around us and nature, it would be a great way to start," says Parmar in an email interview.u00a0
The project also plans to build an online global community of conscious consumers through involvement. "We call it an experiment in creating a prosperity chain, to rethink how goods are produced and sold in a way that benefits everyone involved," says Parmar.
Shirting the issue: The fitted shirt costs 65 euros (Rs 4,140)
IOU, according to Parmar, grew out of her frustration with the current fashion system that shies away from nurturing BIG design i.e. not just making pretty things but truly designing the eco system around their production, and protecting craftsmanship. IOU kickstarts the process by first focussing on the fabric woven by weavers. Each one 'invents' a pattern. It is then shipped to Europe, and artisans from Italy, Portugal, Spain and Romania turn it into a garment. Each step is documented to make sure no information is lost about any individual who has played a role. This is then added to an online link that consumers can access through the QR code of each piece. The project's website is packed with documentation of journeys each garment has made, peppered with visuals.
Every person behind each piece is encouraged to photograph himself/herself with the product and upload it on the site. "This completes the circle. You have no idea how proud it makes the artisans in India and Europe to see someone wearing their clothes. It makes it personal and human," says Parmar.u00a0u00a0IOU has a unique distribution plan too. It encourages anyone interested in the project's philosophy to become a Trunk Show Host.
"You can recommend and curate the product to your friends and followers on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and you get a decent share of the earnings from each piece sold (20 per cent for products sold in the first week, 15 per cent for the second, and 12.5 per cent for the third, after which the piece expires and goes back to the IOU inventory). Everybody is welcome to approach IOU to create their own trunk show. All you need is a Facebook profile.u00a0u00a0Puente says their price points are reasonable, and after paying weavers "more than their normal earnings", giving the European craftsman his share, and sharing the profits with trunk show hosts, there are no free funds to squander on opening a store or the launch of fancy advertising campaigns.
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