Behind The Brand: Rahul Mishra
This week on Behind The Brand, we would like to introduce you to Indian designer Rahul Mishra.
Rahul is the winner of the International Woolmark Prize 2014, the first Indian designer to be invited to showcase at the Haute Couture Week in Paris and a designer who champions slow fashion with traditional Indian textiles. His eponymous label represents the finest handwork; hand woven, hand embroidered and hand crafted in India, for the world.
In a very short span of time Rahul has attracted the admiration of the fashion industries most influential figures including International Fashion Editor of Vogue, Suzy Menkes, who regards him a “national treasure” and the late Franca Sozzani who praised Rahul for “successfully highlighting the best and most peculiar features of his homeland.”
Rahul started his journey as a designer in Mumbai, where he worked with embroiderers who lived in the urban slum locality called, Dharavi. “Thousands of workers had been working in adverse conditions, away from their homes and families in pathetic unfamiliar set-ups just for a higher pay. “ Recalls Mishra.
Rahul’s call to do his part to better this section of society lead him to urge a group of artisans to reverse migrate to their villages. Rahul promised them a regular and reliable source of income and they offered him the support he needed for his company. Rahul says he eventually became family with all of his team members as he employed close to a thousand workers directly or indirectly across the villages of India. While his company now flourishes out of India’s capital of New Delhi, several clusters of artisans work with Rahul’s directly from their villages for processes such as hand weaving and embroidery.
Rahul says he “believes that when you employ a person residing in an Indian village, you indirectly create opportunity for a much larger group of people. In a village, the residents create employment for a local milkman, a shopkeeper and even a public school. In this way, it allows us to create inclusivity beyond our workers and leads to a holistic social growth that is beautiful in its own way. It also allows the artisans to live with their families in the comfort of their own homes. This contributes to the preserving of local culture and crafts as it avoids unwanted urbanisation of the society.”
Unlike some brands who have recently shifted their focus to sustainability, the issue has been one that Rahul has been has focused on from the beginning of his brand. When asked what sustainability means to him Rahul says sustainability is a broad concept that everyone has their own understanding of. “When we talk about sustainability in fashion, we speak about mindful fashion that is independent of both, trends and seasons. Rahul Mishra is built on the core philosophy of the following four ‘P’s— Purpose, Process, Participation and Product. Each piece of clothing is made with a ‘purpose’ of creating more employment and inclusivity amongst the Indian craft sector. This comes from the intention of both, sustaining the various hereditary art-forms that exist in the villages of India and uplifting an underprivileged sector of the society. Our purpose defines our process that is built with painstakingly slow segments of handwork and hand embroidery that helps us express our dreamy, painterly aesthetic onto our garments. The mindful selection of these processes in-turn creates participation and results in a product that is not only beautiful but sustains its relevance through years in someone’s wardrobe”.
Rahul hard at work
Rahul’s work in preserving local cultures and crafts in India as well as his efforts in sustainably are among the many reasons that the designer has been featured on the global influential list of ‘BoF 500’ for four consecutive years as well being awarded the title of “International Fashion Award for Sustainable and Ethical Brand’ by Chambre Monegasque de la Mode at the Monte Carlo fashion Show.
Rahul’s most notable award could arguably be his 2014 win of the International Woolmark Prize. “A lot has changed since the Woolmark Prize” says Mishra. “I have grown both, personally and professionally in many ways. While I find myself with more confidence and understanding of my abilities today, I foresee the larger picture that I am yet to explore. Our business has grown over ten times post the Woolmark Prize as our team is now larger and so are the finances. Winning the award lead to our foray into the Paris Fashion Week RTW calendar that was followed by our recent showcase at the Haute Couture Week. Milestones after the other have graced our journey while my personal and professional growth can be best seen through my work.”
As a young brand Rahul says Rahul Mishra is still establishing its mark on the world stage. The designer describes his brand as one that works on the principles of sustainable and slow fashion using alternate processes. The brand’s refreshing language is striking and hopes inspire the world to follow a different path. This is evident in both Rahul Mishra’s debut couture 2020 and Fall-Winter 2020 collections.
The brand’s debut couture collection was conceptualized during Rahul’s trips to the Maldives and the Himalayas. Being surrounded by the “the pristine presence of wilderness “ helped shape Rahul’s approach to clothes that season. The creative process for this collection saw the brand reduce the quantity of clothes they produced while growing as a business that employs more than a thousand artisans from the Indian craft community. This slowness enabled the brand to incorporate a natural human pace to the process of creation, which to them is the biggest luxury of the moment. According to the brand the preparation for the couture collection gave both to a narrative that was then continued in their Fall-Winter collection.
Having recently opened flagship stores in both Mehrauli in New Delhi and Kalaghoda in Mumbai Rahul plans to open outlets in Paris, London and New York in the near future. Opening a store in these key locations will allow Rahul to bring his world closer to the Rahul Mishra women of the globe. The designer describes a Rahul Mishra women as a well-travelled, educated and intellectual. “She is a multitasker; compassionate and capable. She is traditionally rooted but, individually driven. It is every woman that has worn us in the past and every woman that aspires to in the future— as it is the doctors, entrepreneurs, writers, mothers and daughters that eventually bring life to our clothes and add a bit of themselves to our brand” As for the Rahul Mishra man? Rahul says he would like to explore menswear sometime in the new future but is unsure when that would be.
As the world is currently going through unprecedented times that took most of us by surprise. When asked what is next for the brand Rahul said,“this year had started with a wave of positivity and it is our constant aim to sustain it through the novel COVID-19 crisis. Currently, our core teams (design, textiles, production, accounts & communications) are remotely working on a plan that will reinvent our supply chain. We are focusing our energies on creating enough work requirement for the craftsmen for post the lockdown as they are the section that are most adversely affected by the crisis.”
“While the upcoming months are typically dry for sales and all major events will remain at halt, we need to innovate and look for alternates. Currently, we are looking for qualitative solutions for the situation with extensive planning and home-work towards a true, ‘slow’ collection of garments. Our hands are full with the prep-work and creative explorations that involve extensive recycling of raw materials— if we have all blueprints ready by the time we reopen, our workers will be able to start with an immediate effect. It’s the team engagement that is meaningful to every one of us and is helping keep us afloat” continued Mishra.
When asked how the COVID19 pandemic has directly affected his brand Mishra says,“Just as all other businesses, we have been directly affected by the COVID-19 crisis. With the revenues brought down to ‘zero’, the expenses remain the constant. As a company that depends on slow fashion processes and in turn, several hundreds of craftsmen, we are met with the responsibility of sustaining their livelihoods through the tough times. This is accompanied with other rental payments and routine expenses. We are currently at a stage in our journey when we’re able to continue to safeguard the personal and financial interests of our employees and we are determined to do it for as long as it takes. On the creative grounds, our team is quite positive and focused on working towards the next project through the difficult time.”
According to Rahul India’s fashion Industry as a whole, accounts for a large number of local businesses that will be affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rahul says that while the bigger fashion houses may survive this, younger brands are having to make difficult decisions. In the unorganised sector, large populations of skilled workers and artisans are left with little or no source of income and with a drop in global demand, they may find themselves in a rather difficult spot. It may even be a matter of life and death for many.
Although the future may be uncertain Rahul’s message to aspiring designers remains strong.
“The one thing that I go by is to not create anything just for the sake of creation. The purpose or objective behind the making of a product must be well thought of and determined as something more than just to drive consumption. There are plenty generic black jackets in the world, bring it something new. For us, participation has been always been a starting point. Employment and engagement have several times, determined our processes and techniques— such as, using hand embroidery instead of print. While we find our commitment in supporting the Indian craft sector so that we could employ a total of one million craftsmen someday, everyone may find their own purpose. Fair and thoughtful practices make a larger impact.”
To learn more about Rahul and his work be sure to visit his website here and follow his instagram here. Rahul’s amazing pieces are currently available at some of the world’s most popular and premium stores. Click here to see a complete list of the brand’s stockists.