“If you could start over, would you?”
Most businesses start with questions like ‘Who do you serve?,’ ‘what is the market gap you are addressing,’ etc etc.
The idea to launch this business came about after a soul searching conversation with a friend. At some point in mid 2017, a 30 something editor of a decor magazine sat down with a friend, mulling over where she saw herself in five years time, maybe even a decade. It was a time for personal reflection, where she was trying to choose between staying in her job, or leaving. And the simple question ‘Are you willing to start over?’ brought up what was at stake at that moment - the option to continue the status quo and keep living in autopilot mode or make the very intentional decision to leave and start life over.
That editor was me. And that conversation is what started this journey. The journey of starting a business called Ela India, an intentional clothing brand that is all about slow living, and mindful choices. I quit my job, left Bombay behind and moved to a small town in Kerala called Palakkad, where my family lived.
I was seeking to come back 'home' - but this wasn't just a physical home I was choosing to return to, but a figurative one as well, one that promised me a safe space to pause, reflect and restart my whole life.
Starting over is hard. But it's almost always worth it.
Warm Regards,
Bindu Nair, Founder, Ela India
Life is rarely linear...
...despite our best laid plans. Five year old me wanted to become a fashion designer and there was no question of pursuing any other career. I wanted to dress people up. I wanted to make clothes. Fast forward to being 19 and being rejected by the only design school I had ever applied to, I gave up my 'fashion designer' plans and pursued journalism. Writing was the only other skill I knew I was good at. After a 15 year career in media organisations like Times Global Broadcast, UK's Haymarket Media, Conde Nast India and Ogaan Media, and a short stint launching a graphic art marketplace, I hung up my boots as founding editor of Beautiful Homes and decided to start over. I wanted to pursue my dream of running a womenswear label. I loved textiles and wanted to dive deeper into the craft ecosystem. I spent a few months traveling and sourcing while working on a documentation project that brought me into contact with the artisan sector in Kerala. The project gave me some insights into what working in craft livelihood projects entailed and I wanted to know more.
PS: That is five year old Bindu with her elder sister in her favourite frilly frock. I was very particular about what I wore even at 5 years of age:)
A Small Business with a big ♥️
I began this business as a womenswear brand, seeking to make clothes that were about mindful consumption- clean cut silhouettes in natural fibres that felt liberating. But this wasn’t just a business for me, it was about embodying a certain life philosophy - the belief that we could build something of value without giving up on the principles that matter to us. For me that meant consciously choosing to give up city life, and starting over in a small town in Kerala. I wanted to achieve a degree of work-life balance that didn’t feel possible in the city. I wanted to create a creative business that was founded on fair wages, involved artisan livelihoods and had an impact beyond its balance sheet. That’s why I wanted the brand to have its beginnings in a small town, with small overheads that could allow us time to grow and thrive.
The journey so far
Our journey as an apparel brand has seen us learn so much about sustainability and the craft ecosystem and how the two overlap. In the early days of sourcing from weaver collectives, we came to unlearn our own assumptions about what sustainability meant in the larger context of climate change and the economics of consumption. Our interest in textiles began with a curiosity about textiles on the loom. But over the last few years of having ventured into printmaking, that is really where our personal interest and business goals have come to converge.
The decision to turn towards printmaking has changed how we view the future of the business. While apparel is our mainstay, we want to explore what we can create for other lifestyle categories. Our interest in upcycling led to the creation of The Upcycled Project - an initiative where we have created an accessories line under Ela India, and employed local seamstresses on a project basis to create a line of sewn products. We explored printmaking on soft handwoven mulmul and handwoven chanderi silk in our Summer ‘23 collection. Both fabrics were originally created on the loom, sourced from Kala Swaraj, a partner we have been working with since 2021.
The value of 'Handmade'
The idea of 'handmade' is at the core of our business. Whether in the choice of fabric or our printmaking technique, we value the handmade quality that is intrinsic to our process.
As an apparel business, we print our own textiles not only because we love the craft of printmaking but because it enables us to manage and monitor the quality of the final yardage that we work with, while allowing us to have a wider impact as a business focussed on the craft sector. We have worked with, and continue to work with weaver and artisan collectives like Kala Swaraj, Malkha India, local handloom clusters in Kerala (supported by the Kerala govt) and SEWA affiliated organisations like SEWA Ruaab. We are always looking to add more craft clusters to our supply chain.
Thank you for joining us on this journey.
Ela Spotting
Artists in Ela India 🌿
Ela Spotting: Artist Devi Seetharam in Ela India
To have an artist like Devi Seetharam, whose work I admire so much, wear an Ela India saree at her show at the recently concluded Delhi Contemporary Art Week...