Asmita Marwa is no stranger to Goa. Having had a store in Candolim some time ago, she has been frequenting Goa for a few years now. Asmita Design is a sustainable fashion label creating and manufacturing garments in-house, using ethical norms and practices. Her ‘Zero- Waste’ collection was recently showcased at the Global Sustainable Fashion Week in Budapest. India Beach Fashion Week 2016 held at the Goa Marriott Resort and Spa saw Asmita Marwa showcase her ‘Sustainability’ collection to a packed audience.
Herald Café: How does your collection that focuses on sustainability, which was showcased at the IBFW 2016, set itself apart from other fashion trends?
Asmita Marwa: Sustainability is an ideology, a state of mind and a concept close to my heart as a designer and a creative person. It is the crux and essence of my label and brand. Sustainability is about slow fashion and timeless fashion. It's about evolving a concept, re-inventing and re-interpreting it over a few seasons. Sustainable fashion does not believe in churning out collection after collection. It’s not about making the consumers feel that they are outdated in their choice only because they don’t have the latest designer pieces. Sustainability is about adding separates to continue the evolution of a concept or design language.
HC: How does the concept of less waste come into play?
AM: In this collection which I showcased recently, most of the creations were made from leftover fabric from other collections. We’ve used a lot of fabric from earlier collections and up-cycled it to create new designs and garments. We create prints using organic fabric and natural dyes; all of which takes a lot of time and there is lot of love which goes into every garment.
HC: We noticed a lot of cottons in your collection. Has this been done for any particular reason?
AM: I’ve used mostly organic cottons and natural fabrics for this collection. Hence, there are a lot of textures, depth and colour. We’ve recycled and up-cycled a lot of the material. I also use a lot of khadi which is sourced locally. I ensure that all the textiles and materials which I use are being produced in an ethical manner.
HC: What do you think of Goa as a fashion destination?
AM: Goa is one of my favourite places in the world. In fact, I had a store in Goa which I unfortunately had to shut down because I live in Hyderabad and I couldn’t manage to keep going back and forth. It was a very difficult decision for me to shut the store in Goa, which was located at Calangute. I think Goa is a great destination for resort wear, because it’s a hub where people from all over the world descend