The 'RE: Think, Act, Create' campaign has been advocating for stronger commitments for sustainability and fairness in fashion in the post-Covid 19 scenario across India and is actively engaging millennial consumers, influencers, and fashion businesses to kickstart a 'fair fashion' movement in India through its different initiatives.
After a successful online garment donation drive with NGOs in Mumbai and the launch of India's first digital textile museum Karkhana Chronicles, RE: Think, Act, Create has now launched The ReFashion Hub to throw light on what fair fashion entails for the Indian fashion industry.
A digital platform with accounts on Instagram (@rethinkactcreate) and YouTube (Re- Think. Act. Create), the hub functions as a dialogue platform that engages leading thought leaders, fashion businesses, industry experts, and other actors for collective action in order to set milestones for pivoting to a fair fashion framework in India. It is a convening platform that brings together voices from both mainstream and sustainable fashion.
In its first edition, The ReFashion Hub has brought together over 10 thought leaders including Shefalee Vasudev, Nonita Kalra, Pragya Tiwari, Daniel Fernandes, and Amrita Puri to explore over 6 themes around fair fashion. Some of the themes revolve around understanding the impact of mental health on fast fashion, the scalability of sustainable fashion in India, and the trends that have arisen in the past few years in the fashion industry.
As a part of the campaign, the platform also collaborated with three members of erstwhile Indian royal families - Maharani Priyaraje Scindia of Gwalior, Yuvraj Chaitanya Raj Singh of Jaisalmer and Jema Akshita Manjari Bhanj Deo of Mayurbhanj to curate India's first digital textile museum Karkhana Chronicles, installed at their respective palaces across India to promote dialogues on the sustenance of Indian textiles. Each member worked with the craft that was closely linked to their family. The curation in Gwalior is about chanderi. At Jaisalmer Fort Museum, the installation is inspired from the work of its surrounding indigenous communities. In Mayurbhanj, at the Belgadia Palace, the installation is an homage to Odisha's phuta sari.
"The last decade has been brutal for our environment. The time has come, when 'Change' is the only way for us to sustain and survive. Today, when our very existence is in question, it is imperative for us to come together as a fraternity. Let us Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Revive, and Reinvent. I urge you to make this your mission and together we can be the change," said fashion designer Payal Jain, while speaking about the need for Fair Fashion and dialogue around it.
"Sustainability is not just about the finished product but one should also consider the complete process. For fashion, we should be ethical about how we work. Continuing to sustain a craft or a design language that handholds that craft is as important to keeping sustainability alive in today's environment," said fashion designer Rina Dhaka.
"Restoration is a part of sustainable fashion for me. I send them to my weavers and they are rewoven and so, I have been able to create something new from the old. Sustainable fashion is something you can use for a longer time. Classic and timeless!," said veteran fashion designer Leena Singh of Ashima-Leena label, while talking about the ways one can reduce waste and reuse in fashion.
To access the ReFashion Hub dialogue platform, please log on to YouTube and IGTV. Plans for the next edition of The ReFashion Hub are already underway and will be launched in early 2021.
