5 Indian Sustainable Labels Breathing New Life Into Heritage Weaves

Across India, textiles outlive their original purpose. They are mended, reshaped, and absorbed into new forms. A silk sari that once marked a wedding may resurface years later as a modern, tailored piece, or a weakened weave reinforced on the loom to give it a new shape. This culture of continuity underpins the work of five designers who create beautiful garments and accessories with inherited fabrics and discarded cloth.

Paiwand

Derived from the phrase ‘paiwand lagana’, meaning to mend or patch, the brand was founded in 2018 by Ashita Singhal as an upcycling textile studio. Their practice draws on techniques such as patchwork and rafugiri, the traditional art of textile mending. At its core, the studio reworks forgotten fabrics, extending their life through thoughtful design. “For us Indians, sustainability has always been a part of our tradition. We highlight the lost practice of mending by making it visible, intentional, and conversational. For us, luxury clothing is no longer about perfection, it is about intention and trace,” says Singhal.

As a fashion student, watching strips of muslin and silk swept into bins after pattern cutting, Singhal experienced what she describes as “an awakening”. She wasn’t just concerned about fabric waste, what bothered her tremendously was that the industry she was entering is regarded as one of the world’s largest polluters. With Paiwand, Singhal replaces virgin yarn on the handloom with strips of discarded fabric, transforming export-house offcuts and surplus textiles into a fully woven cloth. The fragments are sorted by fibre and colour, cut into narrow bands, and introduced as weft—so the fabric’s very structure is built from what already exists. “The waste decides our colour palette, and the quantities decide our production scale,” she explains. Because each batch differs in fibre composition and strength, the repetition is rare. “This means we are always designing from scratch,” she adds.

The brand focuses on heirloom pieces that offer longevity over trend-driven silhouettes. “At Paiwand, our motto is to preserve. We constantly work toward reviving India’s rich textile tapestry while upcycling textile waste through innovative craft techniques.”

KARDO

Launched in 2013, KARDO has positioned itself as an alternative to fast fashion, embedding sustainability not as a message but as a method. Across its menswear line, the label works with natural dyes, handloom fabrics, block printing, ikat, indigo denim, shibori, and chikankari embroidery. Founder Rikki Kher’s creative process doesn’t begin with a mood board or colour direction, but with a visit to a weaving or printing unit, often in conversation with artisans about what they would like to develop.

When selecting textiles from different regions, Kher values both “instinct and integrity”. By integrity, he means fabrics that are honest in their construction and ageing. “We gravitate toward textiles that hold character, like handspun yarns, irregular weaves, and surfaces that show the human hand,” he says. He prefers these techniques because they retain the fabric’s character. Kher doesn’t like to use textiles that feel costume-like or archival purely for the sake of nostalgia. “The textile should feel like it belongs in today’s wardrobe while still carrying where it came from. When a piece blends both authenticity and everyday wearability, it feels right for us,” he explains.

That thinking extends beyond the loom and into the lifespan of the garment, too. Pieces are designed to move across occasions and phases of life, with ageing anticipated as part of their evolution. “We like garments that crease, fade, soften, and record the wearer’s life,” Rikki shares, favouring use over preservation and encouraging a relationship with clothing that deepens over time. Shirts are constructed to be darned, jackets to be patched, so that repair becomes an extension of ownership rather than a sign of decline. Each piece on the inside also carries the names of the weaver, dyer, tailor, and finisher. It is a small gesture, but one that makes the chain of hands visible, anchoring the garment in accountability as much as craft.

Bodements

This brand came into being as India’s first dedicated vintage store, rooted in the idea of preservation. Over time, however, Founder Divya Saini realised that preservation alone was not enough. Many garments that entered the studio were too fragile, stained, or structurally compromised to survive untouched. “Reconstruction became less about altering something old, and more about allowing it to live again in a new form,” Saini explains. In the studio’s ecosystem, there is no hierarchy between what is deemed usable and what is dismissed as waste. Torn sari borders, faded panels, and even small offcuts are retained, observed, and eventually reintegrated into new garments. “Waste is simply material waiting for its next purpose. This approach also slows down our decision-making and asks us to listen to the material rather than impose urgency on it,” she says.

Clients, including young brides, often entrust the studio with inherited textiles, allowing them space for interpretation by introducing intricate handwork, hand embroidery, and beadwork to the garment. “Wedding textiles are often worn only once, yet they carry immense craftsmanship. The intention is to transform them into pieces that can exist in everyday life—garments that move fluidly across occasions, like jackets and separates. The garment becomes part of life again, allowing the textile to remain present rather than archived.”

Many of Bodements’ pieces begin with heritage Indian textiles that might be faded, or have irregular dye patterns and handwork. The process involves assessing what can be preserved and what must be reshaped to allow the textile to function again. “The intention is never to erase the textile’s past, but to reposition it in the present,” Saini says. This means keeping imperfections visible while placing them within silhouettes that feel relevant today. “The textile already carries richness. The role of design is simply to create space for it to exist in a new context.”

Ekaya

For this heritage Indian brand, restoration is as much about preserving knowledge as it is about reviving fabric. “We began restoring heirloom saris not just to preserve the garment, but also the weaving techniques,” says Palak Shah, Founder and CEO, Ekaya Banaras. Many older saris, she explains, carry methods that are rarely practised today. “Over time, they don’t just go out of fashion, they go out of knowledge. When an old saris comes back to us, it becomes a reference piece. Our weavers study its structure, decode the pattern, and sometimes relearn techniques that haven’t been practised in years. In many ways, restoration becomes education. It keeps the loom intellectually alive and allows one generation to pass these skills to the next.”

Even after careful inspection, restoring an old sari can involve unexpected challenges once the work begins. “The process is never 100% predictable. These yarns have stood the test of time and may have weakened over decades. Working with them requires precision and care,” she says.

The restoration process carries a particular intensity because many of the saris they receive are often heirlooms, deeply tied to family memory, which means the work extends beyond technical repair. “If something goes wrong during restoration, it isn’t just about damage to fabric, as it feels personal. Many of these saris carry family history as they belong to clients’ mothers and grandmothers, so the restoration work requires empathy as much as expertise. The textile may not always be museum-worthy in design, but its memory is invaluable,” she says. This reinforces how Shah views sustainability through a broader lens. “Sustainability in India is not a new concept. We need to rebuild that value system to shift consumer behaviour so that restoring a garment is seen as aspirational, not outdated. To make repairs feel luxurious, reuse feel responsible, and longevity desirable.”

Label Niharika Vivek

Working primarily with vintage silk and zari saris, Founder Niharika Vivek reimagines them as corsets, structured dresses, blouses, and occasion-wear pieces. The label centres on mindful production, zero-waste techniques, and preservation of heirloom fabrics. The direction crystallised during a customisation appointment with a client from Hyderabad, who inherited a sari of ‘royal lineage’ from her mother-in-law. “I truly didn’t have the heart to cut such a beautiful, rich sari,” shares Vivek, admitting that, as a South Indian, dismantling a Banarasi or Kanjivaram required both a mindset shift and a quiet break from inherited reverence. The client returned the next day with two more ageing silks, insisting she doesn’t want them to sit in her wardrobe and go to waste. She wanted the saris to be turned into something wearable. This request made Vivek wonder whether the sari should be cut or transformed into an entirely new attire. “I thought about how I could turn an 80-year-old unusable sari into something usable for another 80 years,” Vivek tells Manifest. This clarity reshaped how she approached each textile thereafter. “Every sari has its own personality in the form of how the butas are placed, how the border and pallu look, and what part of it should be retained,” she explains. Vivek is mindful of the fact that the fabric’s existing structure guides the cut rather than being overridden by it, ensuring that its origin is visible in the new garment that Vivek creates. “I love creating pieces that make it obvious it was once a sari…we wouldn’t want to do it any other way.” Within the studio, fabrics are evaluated and reshaped into corsets or jackets based on their strength, while offcuts are retained and reintegrated into patchwork and accessories. “Our Matsya Bag is constructed entirely from offcuts. Nothing is wasted, even sari borders are repurposed into objects rather than thrown away.” 

This story appears in Manifest India’s Issue 08. Subscribe here for more stories like this.