Sabyasachi x H&M: a wake-up call to the design fraternity’

The crafts activist’s response to the designer’s note today says communities with age-old creative traditions deserve much more than ‘crude shortcuts’ An outfit from the Sabyasachi x H&M collab, Wanderlust Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s response to the joint letter by a collective of Indian craft organisations, voicing concerns about his digitally-printed Sanganeri and Kalamkari lookalike collection for global brand H&M, had lots of words — basically saying that by putting Indian textile traditions in a mass production medium he hoped it would then generate a demand for the authentic artisanal product. Well, here’s hoping! Laila Tyabji The trouble with global clothing chains is that their existence depends on creating new trends on a seasonal basis in order to maintain a constant demand for their products. What’s ‘in’ today is not ‘in’ next season. Old stock is junked. That’s why it is known as fast fashion. Seeing a new range promoted by H&M in malls and high streets across the world creates avid demand at first, but then comes the saturation. Will customers really clamour for genuine handblocked Indian prints once they’ve bought the H&M versions, or will they simply move on to the next latest thing? Nurturing artisinal luxury I too have an H&M story. About 18 years ago, Action India, an NGO that works with deprived women in Delhi and its environs, approached Dastkar for help. H&M, under fire for sour...