Global Queen from India

DW (English)

Karishma Shahani-Khan is an Indian fashion designer who wants to change the world with a no-waste approach to her industry. With her label she champions the principles of recycling, upcycling and sustainability.

Transcript

00:00 My name is Karishma Shahani Khan and I'm from Pune, India.

00:03 I'm the founder of the label Kasha.

00:05 We work a lot with Indian textiles and handloom

00:08 and we do a lot of upcycling and recycling.

00:10 I was told by someone in my family that you're such an intelligent girl.

00:21 Why don't you go study philosophy at Oxford

00:22 or do something big with your life?

00:24 Why are you studying fashion? You're just a glorified tailor.

00:27 But fashion for me is way deeper than just the product that we wear on a runway.

00:32 It really talks about where we're at as a country, as the world

00:36 and where we may go to.

00:37 I would be lying if I said I always wanted to be a fashion designer.

00:43 I wanted to be so many different things.

00:44 I wanted to be like an air hostess, a pilot, an archaeologist.

00:48 I wanted to be a veterinarian, all sorts of things.

00:50 But somewhere along the way, I had a book, which my father still has with him.

00:56 It was a book where I used to draw clothes from Bollywood

00:59 and actresses in television and movies.

01:01 And I would write descriptions of what they were.

01:04 And that convinced my father that I want to be a fashion designer.

01:07 I studied at London College of Fashion in the UK.

01:11 While I was studying there, they were talking about recycling, upcycling, sustainability.

01:15 So I thought, "Oh my God, this is so interesting."

01:17 But then when I heard more about it, I realised, "Oh my God, we've always been doing this."

01:21 You know, what is upcycling? What is recycling?

01:23 At home, my mother would never throw anything out.

01:26 I thought, "I can get a bunch of people together and we can just create this beautiful product

01:31 while not being wasteful, while paying people correctly, while not throwing things into the garbage can."

01:53 I think the hardest part of starting the business is always just starting it.

01:57 Like, being like, "I'm going to just do this."

01:59 I started from my dad's balcony.

02:01 Then I moved to my mum's office, one part of it.

02:04 Then we took over a larger part of it.

02:06 Then she threw us out and we took another space.

02:08 And we had other issues like material.

02:11 Where would the material come from?

02:13 How would we source everything?

02:14 How would it come in here?

02:15 Then also hiring people.

02:17 Like, how do you find the right person to get on board?

02:20 [Music]

02:22 Yes, it's not easy being a woman.

02:32 Yeah, definitely.

02:34 Luckily, because I do fashion, female in fashion makes complete sense.

02:38 I mean, everyone assumes that a woman will open a boutique somewhere.

02:42 So from that point of view, India and women in fashion works.

02:46 But if you look around you, most of the people who make fashion,

02:49 or the producers of fashion, are men.

02:51 So to sometimes make them trust you and believe you,

02:56 takes a little bit of time.

02:57 Especially when you're like a 22, 23 year old person,

02:59 just young, out of college and saying, "Oh, let's do this."

03:02 Definitely people look at you in a way where they're like,

03:04 "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

03:06 Or you're just like papa's little princess who's starting a business.

03:15 When I actually got pregnant, I mean, I was asked,

03:18 "Now are we going to shut the label?

03:20 Is the label going to close because now you're pregnant?

03:22 So now it means, how are you going to work so hard?"

03:24 So for me, that was one time when I realized that actually I'm a woman.

03:27 And once I have a child, people are going to expect different things from me.

03:30 I think the founding philosophies of Kasha were just about

03:42 making something that's not going to hurt anyone.

03:45 We don't say we're sustainable by from us.

03:49 What we are doing is we're saying that let's just be good to each other.

03:52 Let's not fleece each other. Let's not exploit anybody.

03:55 Let's make products that are good for our body.

03:57 Let's make products that, you know, after making it,

04:00 our waste can also be utilized.

04:01 And let's make products that last for a long time.

04:09 When I see people around me thinking and talking about their children's education,

04:14 like that for me is very, very heartwarming.

04:17 Or when I see them talking about their wives now going to work,

04:21 like that makes me realize that we're doing something correct,

04:24 where they realize that all these things are so important and crucial.

04:37 I think that if we just stop greenwashing,

04:39 if we just really just did our job,

04:41 and we didn't just use words because they were trends,

04:45 like now sustainability is a big trend.

04:47 I feel like that needs to change quite like tomorrow.

04:49 I mean, today evening, actually. It needs to change.

04:51 needs to change.

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