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making the consumers feel that they are outdated in their choice only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
