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Surgery before style
Updated On: 19 January, 2020 08:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Ela Das
With a growing concern for the environment, labels across the country are focussing on reusing and recycling heritage textiles for a sustainable future. Met the guys who'll turn your saree with a family story into an updated garment

An antique 100-year-old odhna that belongs to an affluent Marwari family that hailed from the Raj. The work on this is aari hand embroidery. Pics/ Atul Kamble
An industry that is standing on the idea of consumerism and frequent purchase is looking at ideas to save, restore and reuse. Fashion labels that are questioning mass consumerism that leads to excessive waste are pondering on the need for conscious production. Devika Vaid, through her eponymous label, focusses on reviving heirloom textile pieces commonly inherited by Indian women from their grandmothers as a way to preserve heritage and offer it a new lease of life. "While these are rich pieces that you'll find in most Indian families, many owners have no idea what to do with them," says Vaid, explaining, "Your antique sarees, dupattas, lehengas, can all be restored or updated to be made into something relevant and wearable. Not only will you be wearing something valuable, you'll also be preserving family history and the sentimentality attached to the original family member who owned it."



