I’ll admit that I’m not somebody who takes into consideration the way in which my garments are produced. Sustainability is way from the very first thing on my thoughts when buying my garments.
To not point out, it’s fairly frequent to seek out manufacturers practising quick vogue to satisfy the demand in everchanging traits, together with Shein, Mango, H&M, Without end 21, City Outfitters, Adidas, and plenty of extra.
With most of those manufacturers being an simply accessible and barely extra inexpensive choice, it’s secure to say that it’s onerous to drive change.
However Banavees is a Malaysian clothes model selecting to go the opposite approach by specializing in sustainability and being environmentally aware when producing its outfits.
Sustainable & trendy
Praveena, who based the model, believes that folks want to start out buying consciously and chorus from shopping for garments simply because they’re low-cost and available.
“After being part of this vogue subject, I’ve realised that there’s a lot work in producing a easy T-shirt. Since then, I’ve not purchased a T-shirt outdoors,” shared Praveena.
Banavees’ outfits are made-to-order and clients are allowed to decide on their very own designs for his or her outfits, in addition to the unique items showcased on its web site.
Costs fluctuate relying on the design, type, and the quantity of cloth wanted for every outfit. At present, the costs for all items vary from RM70-RM200.
The founder admitted that the preliminary thought of the model began off as only a vogue enterprise. She designed her outfits primarily based on what she would put on every day.
Having pursued her undergraduate research in India, Praveena turned keen on Indian cloth and vogue.
“After I first began the enterprise, I figured that there weren’t many choices out there for folks on the lookout for a contemporary twist of their outfits utilizing Indian cloth,” defined Praveena.
Therefore, with this in thoughts, Praveena and her sisters began off by promoting their garments in pop-up cubicles.
Over time, the founder performed her personal analysis and began studying in regards to the industrial waste from vogue. In accordance with her, vogue is the second largest waste-producing business.
“I used to be barely shocked and questioned if what I used to be doing was really proper. So, I made a decision to take a break and reevaluate my methods on how I may make a distinction and never be a contributing issue to the style waste business,” mentioned Praveena.
After her comeback, the sisters determined to provide their outfits sustainably by utilizing impasse, recycled, or donated Indian costume materials.
The taboo of vogue
Style was at all times a part of the plan for Praveena. “I’ve at all times wished to design since I used to be younger, however there was such a taboo revolving round vogue because it’s not one thing you possibly can develop simply and even make an revenue out of it,” she expressed.
Therefore, as an alternative of pursuing skilled coaching in vogue design, she determined to complete her schooling and turn out to be a speech-language pathologist, which she nonetheless is as we speak.
“And whereas I used to be being a language pathologist, I simply thought, why not pursue my ardour on the similar time?” added Praveena.
Taking the leap of religion, the language pathologist received again into designing. She initially began off by designing for herself and her family members.
Steadily, her kin prompted her to start out her personal clothes model and he or she went on to launch Banavees in 2019 alongside together with her sisters.
Nonetheless, her mother and father weren’t that happy together with her option to pursue design in vogue. “Due to that, I’m nonetheless pursuing my profession as a speech therapist,” mentioned Praveena.
Persevering via the challenges
One of many largest challenges that the group continues to sort out is the lack of understanding throughout the vogue business.
“I really feel {that a} majority of us are nonetheless unaware of the influence the style business has on us. We have a tendency to purchase garments that may solely be worn a few times, after which it leads to landfills,” shared Praveena.
Moreover, she believes that it’s onerous to achieve traction for Banavees as a result of individuals are at all times going for fast-fashion manufacturers, fairly than specializing in the sustainability facet.
In her opinion, lots of people are buying that approach, fairly than buying consciously. They don’t ask questions comparable to “Am I shopping for one thing that’s going to final me?” or “Can I move it on?”, and so forth.
“So, that’s the place I really feel that it impacts us as a model, as a result of individuals are unaware of what they’re shopping for,” Praveena instructed Vulcan Put up.
The founder additional defined that clients are typically hesitant about whether or not they can belief the brand new model fully.
A distinguished problem could be Banavees coping with clients’ comparability of the costs of a fast-fashion model on-line and of Banavees’ model.
“It does have an effect on us somewhat bit that they’re unaware of how it’s creating a brand new model and the way we don’t obtain monetary help from anybody,” defined Praveena.
Therefore, if one in every of their remaining outfits doesn’t promote, they incur losses on their finish as they’re self-financing the startup.
“As a result of we’re not a recognized model, we are able to’t even worth it on the precise pricing that you simply usually get from factory-produced gadgets,” mentioned Praveena.
Nonetheless, when clients do buy outfits from the model, Banavees normally receives repeated orders, which is a blessing in itself.
In direction of the trendy future
One in all Banavees’ future plans contains opening an outlet for its model. As of now, the group is engaged on upgrading its web site for it to be extra user-friendly.
Moreover, when Banavees launches its outlet, the group hopes to supply each ready-made and {custom}–made orders for patrons.
“I really feel Asians will not be used to the idea of custom-made outfits as a result of they’re so used to tailoring or altering their outfits if it doesn’t match,” mentioned Praveena.
Retaining all these in thoughts, Banavees goals to be the clothes model that practices sustainability and one which pushes forth the made-to-order idea.
- Study extra about Banavees right here.
- Learn different articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Banavees
