Fashion designs with a touch of natural dyes

Being from the culturally rich city, Jaipur, Jayati Goenka is known for creating timeless ensembles crafted from hand-woven cotton and promoting artisanal clothing, the eponymous brand's use of ayurvedic dyeing techniques are aimed at promoting healthy and clean living

Sustainable and mindful living has been the inspiring factor for Jaipur-based fashion designer Jayati Goenka to dabble in slow fashion. Jayati, a fashion design graduate from Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur, enjoys studying local art and to encourage the Indian craft communities.

With masks being the order of the day during lockdown imposed to curtail Covid pandemic, she encouraged her artisans to make reusable masks from 100 per cent cotton for themselves. They are created from the fabric rejects and after going through a thorough washing process. Not only are these masks eco-friendly, but also breathable because of the fabric used.

"Our eponymous label was officially launched in 2015," says Jayati. The brand now has a market presence in India as well as internationally in Japan and Middle-East.

She says, "In design academics we are taught importance of the process and story of designing a product. I wanted to bring this story behind the making of minimalistic fashion that is deeply rooted in India's age old crafts and artisans. I believe the platforms such as fashion revolution are really helping small brands voice out their stories and authenticity."

'Jayati Goenka' designs are all season wardrobe essentials that are matured, easy to pair and modest. "The key to our brand is its signature button handwork, mottled hand block prints, muddy natural dyes, sashiko embroidery and tonal mature fuss free cuts," says Jayati.

About the challenges in the industry, she says, "The challenge has always been to make people understand & value what we do .Since it's not a completely commercial or trend based fashion line but rather a conscious sustainable fashion line that focuses on creating garments from natural dyed textiles."

The brand stands out on three things - the local handcraft, mindful details and a timeless global appeal. The brand aims to nurture local resources and promote traditional Indian craft skills globally. "Our attempt is to bring forth the innate beauty of everyday fashion responsibly without any cosmetic shadows," shares Jayati.

Jayati has been associated with Elahe, clothing store in Hyderabad for the past 3-4 years. She says, "We have our summer range "UNRULED" at Elahe that features handwoven textiles and naturally dyed garments. "EVOLVE SS20" Lakme collection was in process of dispatch which has now been put on hold due to the lockdown."

"While studying and working in fashion industry I learnt about the harmful effects of chemicals and dyes used in printing of textiles on the environment. Though they are cheaper but are extremely toxic and polluting. To avoid the use of harmful chemicals, we started looking for environment-friendly, sustainable and natural alternatives for dyeing and printing. In this quest, we associated with Chippa community of Bagru where all the textiles are slowly created with natural dyes and mud. Though it is a slow process but it brings out a beautiful sustainable natural unique handcrafted textile that is innocent, imperfect and made from earth.

We work on a classic colour palette of Beige that is derived from Harda, a medicine fruit commonly found in India, True Indigo blue from Indigo plant and grey from Kasis bhasma which is also used in Indian ayurveda," shares Jayati.