‘Usha Silai’ the sustainable fashion label exclusively launched at OGAAN

By: Sahiba Dhawan

Usha Silai, the sustainable fashion label by Usha International Limited, in consultation with IMG Reliance, is exclusively launched at the multi brand fashion address OGAAN, at their Malcha Marg store in New Delhi.

The first collection under the Usha Silai label has been created by rural women under the mentorship of designers Amit and Richard Pandav, Sayantan Sarkar, Soham Dave, and Sreejith Jeevan. They have worked with local women from Usha Silai Schools in the Rajasthan, Bengal, Gujarat, and Puducherry clusters, respectively. The glimpse of the collection was showcased at a special show on Sustainable Fashion Day during the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort in February 2018.

Usha Silai label focuses on getting rural women into the world of high street fashion garment construction thereby multiplying their earning potential manifold. The collection will come with a tag giving due credit to the rural women who is part of creating the garments. The brand has also decided to share the revenue with the ladies who are involved in the production process.

While talking with Fashiongaze, Dr. Priya Somaiya, Executive Director, Usha Social Services, said, “The project started in 2011, where we chose one woman from one village and trained them in stitching and repairing of machines. These women after going back to their villages started giving classes on the same. The thought of creating this label came after observing great potential in the work of these women. They were then trained by the four designers and we decided to connect rural women to high street fashion. And for this, connection with retail market was very important and so we decided to speak with OGAAN and launch the label here”

Jaspreet Chandok, Head of Fashion, IMG Reliance said, “ReimagineFashion is a powerful narrative of empowerment and inclusivity in fashion. It establishes the principle that for Indian fashion to be forward, it needs to think local and leverage human potential at the grassroots level for the development of a sustainable livelihood. We are honored to partner with Usha International for this initiative. After a fabulous curtain raiser of the Usha Silai Label on Sustainable Fashion Day at Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2018, we are now delighted to partner for its retail launch at OGAAN.”

Aashti Bhartia, Director, OGAAN, “The Usha Silai initiative very much resonates with our ethos at OGAAN — we work with designers that use Indian textiles and techniques and marry them with great design and a modern sensibility. This is the first time they’ve invited designers to collaborate and it is a great step for the Usha Silai school women. The designers have been well chosen; Soham Dave, Amit and Richard, are names we already work with at OGAAN. It’s an inspiring, ambitious initiative for a company like Usha to take forward, and we’re excited to be the retail partners for it.”

Usha International aims to work with women in the villages and believes that helping women develop their inherent latent potentialities would bring about a holistic development for the society at large. Usha International trains (in stitching, tailoring and repairing of machines) village women entrepreneurs, provides them with a sewing machine, a syllabus in local languages, a Silai School signage, and encourages them to teach other community women the art of stitching and sewing.