Women entrepreneurs discuss business of fashion with designer Namrata Joshipura

Discussions on entrepreneurship, empowerment and projects are usual when the members of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) meet, but as fashion designer Namrata Joshipura joined them recently, the conversation steered towards sustainability, trends and business of fashion. The designer led the discussion on the business of fashion industry as she interacted with the members of FLO.Namrata began the freewheeling chat session with her journey, starting from her days at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) to being a known designer and marathoner today, and shared her insights on challenges faced by the fashion industry.

‘Slow fashion is the way forward’
One of the first topics that came up during the discussion was sustainability in fashion and Namrata shared that slow fashion is the way forward. “Sustainability and fast fashion are not friends and they will never be friends. Someone asked me earlier why are designer clothes so expensive? We have to embrace slow fashion if we care for our environment, and slow fashion comes at a cost. As designers we have to make our consumers understand the process that we take to produce our clothes responsibly. Slow fashion is the way forward. As a brand we are not sustainable, but we follow practices within our production facility, within our packaging system to cut down waste. So, slow fashion would also mean production at a certain cost, but the end product is something that lasts you forever,” she said. Adding, “Anyone who engages in mindful shopping and repeats clothes without embarrassment, is self conscious, you are on the right track. That is one way to make sustainable choices.”
‘As a female designer, there are challenges when motherhood comes in’
When asked about challenges that she faces as a designer, she replied, “One challenge is to keep consumers interested. As a female designer there are challenges where motherhood comes in. You have to be a very present mother and for me that has been a challenge. Most people talk about work-life balance, but I think there is no such thing as work-life balance.” But Namrata added that she feels proud of the fact that as a designer she helps women dress up in a way that helps them assert their identity. “I often hear this from others, my friends, consumers - there is a frivolousness attached to dressing up, in wanting to look good, I urge you all to be unapologetically you. Dress for yourself, dress up the way you want to dress up.”