Sustainability is a survival issue
No Nasties was the first fashion brand in India to make 100 per cent organic and 100 per cent Fairtrade clothing. Founder Apurva Kothari in conversation with Subir Ghosh.
Please tell us how it all started.
It was 2007 when Shweta and I were at a cafe in New York when we saw an article online about farmer suicides in India, happening not too far away from where we grew up in Mumbai-just an overnight train ride away. Over 200,000 farmer suicides in 15 years, one every half hour. It was unimaginable. It was shocking. It was just not OK. I started researching the space and started talking to farmer co-ops and folks on the ground to see the cause, and what was being done. Slowly, step by step, we learnt more about the agrarian crisis and realised that a lot was being done on the ground already with the organic and Fairtrade movement, but there was almost no awareness and no support for Indian farmers from our own Indian urban consumers-they didn't know, they didn't have a way to help. That's where the idea for No Nasties came from (though it took me another four years to get it going)-to kickstart a consumer movement for ethical fashion in India-
a) spreading awareness of the farmer crisis,
b) offering a viable alternative by way of our organic Fairtrade clothing,
c) helping the movement grow by being a lighthouse for other brands that wanted to follow suit.
How would you sum up your idea and understanding about sustainability?
I gauge sustainability this way: If everyone in the world were to do "this", would the world be a better place or worse? Would it work? If it won't work for everyone on a global scale, then let's say NO.
And how does your project fit into this understanding/idea?
Our work is built on this very foundation-we believe and hope that everyone should follow an organic and fair path to production of our food and clothes (and extend that to other aspects of our life too). Say no to things that don't make sense. If it's not ethical-say no. If it's not eco-friendly-say no. And why not, when we have so many amazing alternatives that make sense!?
Implementing any idea is not easy. So, how did you surmount those problems?
It's still not easy. The biggest challenge is the supply chain. While it does exist in India, it was (and still is) mostly focussed on exports and large brands. A tiny, two-person Indian startup for organic Fairtrade wasn't heard of, people didn't take us seriously, or just hung up the phone. It was discouraging in the beginning, but we were lucky to find and work with Rajlakshmi Cotton Mills who took us on in spite of our small scale. We took baby steps and have grown steadily since then.
Why did you get into this? Was it because of passion and belief? Or, did you believe that it was a good idea because it would work?
It's not passion, it's purpose. That's our "why".
I had no idea if it would work-the jury is still out-but it's something I couldn't shake off for years while I was still working on my IT career and eventually I knew it was my calling and I had to do this.
(More on this in this video: vimeo.com
What role do you think that the overall cotton/textiles/apparel/fashion industry can and should play in overall sustainable development? In what way?
Isn't the fashion industry the second largest polluter in the world? One of the largest employers too? And only growing year by year. We have an incredible impact on this planet and its inhabitants-both human and non-human. We (fashion) have the attention of the world-from runway ramps to glossy magazines to every movie and tv show influencing what we wear. It would be great to see this kind of "power" being used with great "responsibility".
Do you think terms like sustainable fashion / green fashion / eco fashion / responsible fashion etc have become small, niche segments?
They were niche, they're becoming more mainstream. That's the goal! Instead, let's make unsustainable, non-eco-friendly, irresponsible fashion niche and a blot on the industry.
How do you see yourself (as an organisation) now? Did you step in too early? Or maybe too late?
Looking back, I think we started at the exact right time-when we could!
Fairtrade was still unheard of among Indian consumers (the farmers knew about it, not us city folks). We were the first fashion brand in India to make 100 per cent organic and 100 per cent Fairtrade clothing, and it's a great feeling to see the movement having grown from there-that's the mission.
From idea to implementation is never smooth. How much of course correction did you have to do? Or, was yours a perfect plan? Could you elaborate either way?
Never smooth:)
We started out as a designer community offering printed t-shirts. That was a great start-a t-shirt is a perfect canvas. We soon realised though that our target audience was a bit older, and not the college going, t-shirt-wearing crowd. The older crowd wanted more plain and elegant clothing with a higher fashion quotient. So, the last three years, we've gradually moved from being a t-shirt company to a full-fledged fashion brand. The response from consumers has been fantastic since then and growing steadily.
What do you yourself (both as individual and organisation) do to ensure that your own supply chain (both upstream and downstream, as applicable) remains sustainable?
1) We work directly with our supply chain-one farmer co-op, one factory. We know the people we work with and build mutual trust. No middlemen.
2) We only buy from certified organic (GOTS) and Fairtrade (FLO) supply chain partners-the certification process has more eyes on the entire process than we can ourselves.
The term "sustainability" has also become a greenwashing tool. Without transparency, sustainability means zilch. So, how transparent are you?
Absolutely agree. We've always been fully transparent about our supply chain-all the info has been on our website since the day we launched seven years ago.
<rant>Why am I (and brands in this sector) having to work so hard to prove myself as sustainable and responsible while the polluters and exploiters are allowed to run unsustainable and unfair businesses? Why is the onus on us?</rant>
How many people were involved in the conceptualisation of the project? Who all?
More details in that video link, but in a nutshell:
a) I conceptualised this over four years from 2007-2010-researching the space and meeting supply chain partners, working out the business model, ethics and values, branding and marketing, and also the seed capital. (We haven't taken any equity funding to date-it's all self funded and with a couple of grants).
b) In 2010, I brought on Diti Kotecha as a co-founder and graphic designer. She worked with us for the first year and still helps us occasionally as a freelancer.
c) Shweta was always part of the team as our in-house (part-time) fashion designer, and she joined us full time in 2015.
How successful has your project been so far in terms of financial viability? What about profits/losses so far?
We are still a tiny company and have had our major ups and downs. I started it with 8 lakh rupees and since then have had to put in a lot more capital too when things weren't going well.
We've gone from a two-person company running out of my house in Mumbai to eight people in a co-working space in Mumbai, and now to a 10-person crew based out of Goa. Up & down! We are profitable, but I still can't buy fancy wine:)
Sustainability is a lifestyle issue. Comments?
That almost makes it sound like a luxury we have. It's not. I think sustainability is a survival issue.
Do you think Indian citizens are lagging behind in terms of awareness and lifestyle changes?
It's unfair to use the word "lagging" in my opinion-we, Indian citizens, have so many harsh realities and challenges in our daily lives, but yet are ethically-minded and socially-conscious on the whole. There are definitely other countries that have become extremely aware of the social and environmental impact of our lifestyle choices, but most of them are wealthy nations not dealing with as much strife as we do, and I think that has an impact on the consciousness too given there is more mind-space to think about these issues. But Indian consumers are getting more conscious-the trend is very positive.
What about outreach? How much do you think you have been able to place yourself as a brand? Any metrics that you can share?
We've been very successful in getting the word out. Almost all the top newspapers and magazines have covered us, and we've had coverage on Doordarshan too. So, the outreach has been significant nationally and surprisingly, internationally too. We have shipped orders to over 45 countries till date, and gotten inquiries from all corners of the world from Australia to Puerto Rico, from Iran to Vanuatu, from Canada to Korea, from Reunion Islands to Fiji. The world is looking for organic and Fairtrade clothing, and the Internet makes it a level-playing field, accessible for everyone.
What are the challenges that you see ahead?
The main challenge I see in this sector is green-washing. As the market size for sustainable clothing grows, bigger brands are entering it with their own spin of sustainability and really diluting the values while pumping in their marketing dollars to make it sound sustainable. There's a lot of noise in the space and it's going to be increasingly difficult for consumers to know the good from the bad.
I think certifications and labels like Fairtrade are key to build trust in this noisy space. Take the example of the green dot vs the red dot for food-a simple and effective indicator for veg vs. non-veg food. That's how simple it needs to be for consumers, but that level of simplicity takes a lot of hard work for trust-building, certification, transparency.
What kind of policy changes do you think will work towards making all this happen?
I'm not a policy person, but my general view and hope is that the government can at least make it an even-playing field for farmers by offering the same (if not higher) subsidies to organic farming as it does for chemical/conventional farming.
- Making it mandatory to indicate GMO content in food and clothes would help-this is a growing trend globally.
- Making it mandatory to share supply chain info would be a good step.
- Asking for a triple bottom-line approach from all companies would be incredible.
