14 Jul 2020|Noida | Amity University, Noida
Luxury Fashion and Sustainability
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A webinar on ‘Luxury Fashion and Sustainability’ was conducted by Ms Ankita Shrivastava, Alumni NIFT Delhi & University of LEEDS, UK and Entrepreneur - Little Things Studio, Mumbai. She shared that she loves patterns from nature and her brand USP is using sustainable material for her creations. Handloom and khadi have been her preferred choice of material for some time in her business model. She also shared the challenges she faced during her entrepreneurial journey as well. Talking about sustainable fashion that has evolved with a rethinking in our approach, Ms. Shrivastava detailed about how it’s not just about quality of the product but also ensuring quality in the lives of people who make it. “Luxury for me is a human connection for ages with someone or something. I always buy products that gives me a sense of connection with the product,” shared Ms. Shrivastava. She quoted that sustainability is no longer a fringe issue within fashion but the most defining challenge-and opportunity-of our time. “Things that stay longer are sustainable and goes beyond the fashion industry,” stated Ms. Shrivastava. She talked about the textile processing resulting in a global impact on the environment directly and stressed on rethinking the way things are created and consumed. The designer also shared how fast fashion causes a lot of environmental issues to crop and creating a number of garments that are not needed as much.
A lecture by Harshika Prasad, Founder & CEO, Harshika Prasad & Associates was delivered on ‘Current Economic Scenario with Future Prospects’. Ms Prasad stated that at the sector levels, tourism and travel- related industries will be among the hardest hit along with social forms of consuming art/ culture/entertainment. The International Air Transport Association warns that Covid 19 could cost global air carriers between $ 63 billion and $I I3 billion in revenue in 2020, and the international film market could lose over $5 billion in lower box- office sales. She shared that thanks to previous governments for the information connectivity backbone on which people are consuming YouTube and OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon. She added that Covid could become a blessing in disguise for few sectors like electronic devices with increase in sale of washing machine, dish washing, vacuum cleaner, laptops; web technology companies with extra business for companies like zoom, webinar that enable virtual meetings; Online Grocery and other shopping sites. Ms Prasad added that the biggest saving grace has been technology- the internet and telecommunication- that is enabling a lot of people to be working around the globe without compromising or running a risk to their own and other people's health in their pursuit to keep working and the economy ticking. It has provided extra business to companies like zoom, go to webinar. Still, that's only buffer. She averred that middle income groups people are the one who are affected the most in terms of livelihood and earnings; lower income groups affected in terms of livelihood but getting their basic need of food by NGOs and government. Higher income groups not affected much when comes to livelihood and earning but yes there has not been much profit.
She shared that looking at the economy globally this is definitely a strenuous phase and millions of jobs are going to be affected. Nonetheless, history has enough examples to demonstrate that after a time of economic difficulty, industry and countries have always bounced back. Ms Prasad stressed that we need to be prepared for the recovery and remember the virtual lessons learnt with fundamental changes that need to be made.