If every decade has its own buzzword—the one for the 2020s is bound to be ‘sustainability’. By adopting and advocating sustainable practices and supporting local operations, today’s ‘woke’ generation is paving the way for the rest of the world to follow in its footsteps. Amka India, a homegrown initiative that repurposes discarded items into fashionable ones, is leading the way in this regard.
Shares Amandeep Kaur, founder and Creative Director of Amka India, “At Amka, we aim to provide authentic handmade products while empowering women from less privileged backgrounds, protect ancient crafts from extinction, encourage the use of handicrafts, and sell sustainably sourced artefacts and lifestyle products across India.”
Launched in 2020 by Kaur, who is also a designer, poet and painter, Amka began by selling vintage art and paintings, before launching a line of clothing and lifestyle products earlier this year. At the Amka Recycling Studio, old clothes are repaired, recycled and reused. This initiative is aimed at reducing textile waste and encouraging the switch to zero waste sustainable fashion.
Amandeep Kaur studied Fashion Design at Adelphi University, Long Island, New York and Brand Management at Birkbeck University of London, England. She was born in New Delhi, India and after attaining her educational degrees, practiced and learnt under the guidance of talented Indian designers, before deciding to launch her own brand. As a painter, concept artist, writer and strong believer in body positivity, she says, “Body positivity means valuing and respecting all bodies, no matter what they look like or what they can do. Everyone deserves to feel a positive connection with their body.” She exhibits her art work around the world, in places such as London, Museum of Goa and Bengaluru.
However, it is her fashion initiative that is taking up all her time at the moment. By not focussing on fast-paced seasonal collections, she hopes to encourage an appreciation for slow fashion, featuring handmade products made by local artisans of India. “Our vision is to create zero waste fashion using hand-printed textiles and needlecraft techniques, that will keep our local traditions alive and protect them from becoming extinct,” she explains.
Amka began retailing from their Instagram page, through small WhatsApp groups, on LinkedIn and on their website. The primary focus since their launch has been to spread the word about their bespoke tailoring services for handcrafted clothing and large variety of lifestyle products, including dresses, co-ord sets, batuas and bags, paintings and even quirky bookmarks. Plans for expansion in the sustainable Home Textiles industry are also in the works.
Amka India readily encourages its existing and new customers to donate old and worn out clothes to be repurposed into beautiful new outfits or other items. “We make thoughtful fashion, our silhouettes are mindfully created to avoid wasting fabric and dumping. We even use dumped textile waste from the small scale and large scale factories in Haryana, New Delhi and Punjab. Recently, we also collaborated with @projectasha_ situated in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, to send clothes to needy families. We felt this was the least we could do in the difficult times of Covid-19 to help people from less privileged backgrounds, by donating old clothes collected from different sources of India,” says the founder.
As a relatively new brand on the market, the biggest challenge they faced was in sourcing textile scrap. People were reluctant to donate their old clothes but the team at Amka India persisted, focussing on the positive outcome of their initiative on the environment. They also offered discounts on clothing on the basis of the weight of the textile waste received.
However, Kaur asserts that her painstaking efforts have been worth it, as the customers enjoy the final product – comfortable clothes made from organic fabrics that are naturally dyed, and made to last for years, in keeping with the spirit of slow fashion.
Though this eco-conscious fashion brand is based out of New Delhi, they ship worldwide. Products are retailed through Instagram @amkaindia, their website of the same name and a few Multi Designer stores such as Label House in Faridabad. They also encourage socially distanced appointment bookings at their New Delhi Printing and Recycling Studio in Deep Vihar, Rohini, for a personalised shopping experience.
Kaur signs off with, “We want to spread the word about our design initiative, our lovely airy dresses made with thoughtful silhouettes, keeping timeless Indian fashion in mind. Our sustainable and slow fashion brand is inspired by the stories of people around us, all the while strictly following the 4 Rs—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.”