Attainable Sustainability

2020 was a rigmarole in a myriad of ways and has forced most of the world’s population to stop, reflect and introspect. We have seen tangible proof of what happens when we push our planet to the end of its tether and how devastating the consequences can be for our species, when She pushes back. In times like these, a brand like IKKIVI and the ethos of its’ Founder, Nivi Murthy, become more relatable and relevant to wider demographics. A graduate of the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, Nivi was quick to see beneath the glitter of the industry to the stark, and sometimes ugly, reality of it. With this in mind, she started a fashion analytics platform that helped designers test their products directly with customers, before they went into production. These experiences gave Nivi a solid base to build her future enterprise when she moved back home to India, where IKKIVI was born. IKKIVI was founded with the intention of giving Indian designers a platform to reach a wider audience. The brand is a consciously curated, sustainable and ethical one for designers from India.

The phrase ‘slow fashion’ may be part of the common lexicon of the fashion industry, but it is still a new concept to most people. Can you explain what it means to you personally?

Slow fashion means conscious and mindful fashion. It is being aware of the impact of a particular item - what it is made of, where it comes from, the skill and craft used, who made your products and how they were treated. So, to me, slow fashion means understanding or thinking about these aspects before making an informed purchase.

Overstocking is par for the course in most fashion brands, as you witnessed during your internship with Steve Madden. What are the other perils of fast fashion in your experience?

Ever since I became aware of the perils of fast fashion with the movie ‘True Cost’, I have spent a lot of time understanding and researching the greed of uncontrolled capitalism. The inequality, discrimination and poor standards in the supply chain of the fashion industry; the damage to the environment with landfills, pollution of water and air with bad quality fabrics and dyes, as well as the magnitude of deforestation gives you a perspective that needs to be spoken of more and shared with more people. For me, personally, I couldn’t bear to know the negative impact the fashion industry had on our people and the planet and go about my life not doing anything about it.

Can you tell us a little more about how you identify designers who share your ethos?

We have designers who approach us knowing our values, but we also reach out to the amazing Indian sustainable and ethical designers out there. We evaluate our designers based on their values, the founding team, their purpose, their supply chain, and of course, the aesthetic. We treat these relationships more like partnerships, where we grow together and support each other in bettering our systems and processes to become more sustainable and ethical in our practices; together, we work towards creating awareness about ‘slow fashion’.

You’ve previously mentioned that the documentary ‘The True Cost’ was a turning point in your approach to fashion. What were your learnings from this and how did it resonate with you?

This documentary was an eye opener for me, having been in the industry and studied fashion merchandising I was shocked to not be aware of what was going on behind the scenes. I almost felt cheated not knowing. That’s when I decided that we were not going to just support and promote our very talented designers from India, but we were also going to create awareness and educate people so they can make better and more informed decisions. As consumers we have that power and each individual can really make a difference with their choices.

To most people, sustainable and conscious living translates to ‘expensive’. How do you deal with the challenges of adhering to standards while bringing customers affordable fashion?

Somebody pays the price and, unfortunately, we have gotten used to the supply chain paying the price for us. The options we have are to shop less, more mindfully, shop vintage, thrift and repair!

How has 2020 impacted the global fashion industry in general, and your brand in particular?

The demand and awareness for conscious fashion has grown exponentially over 2020 and digitisation of brands is the need of the hour. The fashion industry having primarily a physical store presence has definitely taken a huge hit, and predictions in the Industry say it will be 2022 or 2023 before things will recover. I feel we have been accelerated to being a better industry, so I hope we are able to maintain, grow and innovate during a time like this. Personally for us, we spent the year focusing our attention on building our growing community, planning, strategising and prioritising so as to better equip ourselves to get closer to our goals.