Waste is a Design Flaw - Katran by Swati Soharia

“Waste isn’t waste until we waste it. What is Junk to some, is Treasure to others”. Hello everyone, Welcome to my new blog. Today, I would like to share something that might be interesting for you and for our environment. This is a best example to experiment early on with various materials and forms which is known as Upcycling.

Katran

The best example is Katran Studio by Swati Soharia. It is a natural outcome of her love for fashion and passion for sustainable living. This amazing label was launched in 2017 as an upcycling lifestyle label.

Wikipedia

She is a knitwear designer, with a degree from the National Institute of Fashion Technology. She currently teaches design at the Pearl Academy (India) and works on a voluntary basis with socially disadvantaged women, teaching them upcycling and craft design. Swati Soharia is committed to sustainable living and is an artist in the fields of frugal innovation and environmentally friendly design. She is often called as the kabadiwala (scrap dealer) of south Delhi. For the past three years, she has been running Katran (Hindi for fabric waste), an upcycling luxury fashion brand, from the same cramped studio. She also trains women from lower-income groups like 50-year-old Indra to create home décor, clothes and accessories with fabric waste—rejected garments, castoff cuttings, bales of unused material—sourced from export houses, manufacturing units, tailors, designers, even friendly neighbours. Isn’t it amazing right?

Zoom

One thing that really impressed me is that she also provides skill-training courses on upcycling fabrics for women to help them get employment and understand marketing requirements. She has successfully trained around 200 women across India through corporations like Godrej, Hindustan Unilever Limited and various non-profits.

Katran

Her retail Katran wear includes sustainable and handcrafted with love and passion. Her collections include Sarees made from pre-consumer discarded textiles, Stoles made from further small pieces of discarded fabrics, Textile Jewellery were handcrafted with smallest pieces of discarded textiles & strictly follow zero waste policy. She also designed corporate gifts like Tote Bags, Laptop Sleeves, Desk Organizers, Tea/Coffee Coasters and Cushion Covers which are made from discarded fabrics with crochets & patchwork techniques.

Katran

Another thing that really inspired me is the exhibited installation artworks for various events like Rugs using leftover fabrics and making yarn out of it, Textile artworks were stitched with various techniques and expresses its different concepts, themes and emotions, Generic Danglers/Fillers are specifically designed for office spaces, Unplugged series for TEDx Gateway event as the letters were handcrafted using scrap fabrics and displayed in Mumbai 2019 and Symbolic of walking with Clouds made from 15 ft. discarded fabrics in the entrance of “Be Good” festival at DLF Avenue Mall in Delhi 2020.

Katran

She not only exhibited her installation works but also featured in Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai 2019 by Miss Malini, newspapers like The Hindu, The Times of India Life, and various other platforms like upcycling workshops in Fashion Revolution Week in Mumbai 2018, created YouTube Channel for DIY tutorials in 2019. This is awesome right?

Thus, This brand is to raise awareness about the dangers of Fast Fashion and promote more responsible consumer behavior in Fashion Retail. We must take a pledge not to buy new clothes and upcycle old clothes from our own wardrobe to make it new and trendy. Let’s make that change now.

Bibliography: -

1. Katran by Swati Soharia (2021). Available at: https://katranstudio.com/ (Accessed: 14 October 2021).

2. About us (2018). Available at: https://katranstudio.com/about-us/ (Accessed: 14 October 2021).

3. Making sustainability mass (2021). Available at: https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/fashion/trying-to-make-sustainability-mass/article28502096.ece (Accessed: 14 October 2021).

4. Is trashion the future? (2021). Available at: https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/big-story/is-trashion-the-future-111611840150082.html (Accessed: 14 October 2021).

5. Symbols of Trouble | Galerien Thayaland (2021). Available at: http://www.galerien-thayaland.at/symbols-of-trouble/ (Accessed: 14 October 2021).