The Fashionistas of Transformation
How sharing can revolutionise the fashion industry
In the world we live in, the production of clothing competes on price. Yes, quality can demand a premium. In fact, a fashion item often becomes sought after because the price is out of reach. But for the ordinary individual, it is about affordability. Supermarket chains have seen the gap and now have franchised cheap clothing stores. And in this world, the Chinese clothing products dominate that market.
Why? Because they are able to push down the price of labour. And for those countries with minimum wage laws this can be a bummer. In South Africa, this reality is strangling its clothing industry. With its strong union tradition, it has become very difficult to compete with the cheap imports and many factories — some who have been regarded as institutions — have had to close their doors.
Campaigns such as “Proudly South African” — launched to encourage consumers to buy locally made products — have not entire helped either. Patriotism will only go so far and then the economic reality kicks in. The problem is that it is difficult to get the other factors (besides labour) to play ball: the cost of the machinery to make the products and cost of raw materials (yeah, the fabric).
Changing the paradigm
But what if the paradigm shifts? Joel Arthur Barker in Paradigms, The Business of Discovering the Future states that “When a paradigm shifts, everyone goes back to zero.” Online publishing, for example, has changed the whole game for newspapers and books who have had to adapt or perish.
And then, what if I told you that that paradigm shift in fashion is actually recycling?
Think about it: what if the textiles are not new, but second-hand? What if enough material could be collected to make new fashions, stylishly, haute couture, that is in demand in the market? And let’s say that these fabrics are— even as second-hand goods—in fairly mint condition and in plentiful supply?
Enter Sari for Change
This is the proposition of Sari for Change, a campaign that calls for the donation of second-hand saris to help jumpstart a struggling industry in a developing country. What’s a sari? Well, Google defines the sari as “a garment consisting of a length of cotton or silk elaborately draped around the body, traditionally worn by women from South Asia.”
Wikipedia is even more elaborate: “A sari, saree or shari is a South Asian female garment that consists of a drape varying from five to nine yards (4.57 metres to 8.23 metres) in length and two to four feet (60cm to 1.20m) in breadth that is typically wrapped around the waist, with one end draped over the shoulder, baring the midriff.”
Remember that India is over 1,2 billion people and one of many countries in South Asia where women wear saris. Then we haven’t even begun talking about Indian women living Europe, in the United States and other parts of the world. You’re talking about a lot of potential second-hand saris.
A new fusion in fashion
Sari for Change is a bold, innovative and highly creative initiative that goes beyond the production of haute couture that could well become the new word in fashion and a business model that others will imitate.
This fresh initiative redesigns and repurposes Indian sari fabric and blends the new fashion item with African textiles (such as shweshwe and wax print), African beading and combining them into couture with Arabic aesthetic.
In the process, Sari for Change creates business and new learning opportunities to — often unemployed — South African fashion designers, seamstresses and entrepreneurs along the entire value chain.
“I am not selling a product,” says founder Rayana Edwards, “I am selling consciousness, connectivity and continuity.”
The source of the saris are from contributions made by women from all over the world who send their traditional garments to South Africa to help others make a meaningful living. Through Sari for Change, these saris get a second life, honouring the contributors and their noble intentions.
The backdrop to the initiative
Sari for Change is the brainchild of fashion designer and change agent Rayana Edwards who wanted to do more than just give birth to a new fashion line. By drawing on her travels in the Middle East and various African countries, Rayana realised that the secret to any new idea is to have a unique selling point.
“I am not selling a product,” says Rayana in animated gestures, “that’s an aside. I am providing a service in training future entrepreneurs in business skills and needle craft to create their own employment. They either become entrepreneurs, sole proprietors, or suppliers of skills, or distributors. I am selling consciousness, connectivity and continuity.”
Rayana made a call through the Art of Living, a foundation by the Indian spiritualist Sri Sri Shanker, for members to contribute their saris to a development initiative in South Africa. After the first three months, it rained saris as the adherents responded to this informal call that spoke to their service paradigm (or Seva). Now instead of sending it to the ashrams in India, it could be reinvested into a project that could uplift others in South Africa.
Sari for Change has actually created a circle of meaningful interaction where people connect and contribute to create a product of beauty providing value and benefit for all contributors.
The circle of meaningful change
Sari fabric were initially of silk material but now includes crepe, georgette, chiffon, charmeuse as well as satin. The colours of these fabrics include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, yellow and many others in the spectrum. The borders and self patterning of the saris allow for creative interpretation in the new creative process, honouring the design of the original artists.
Once these saris arrive at Sari for Change, donated with the intention to be of service to humanity, the value chain begins with saris embarking on a journey of evolution.
Rayana Edwards explains the process: “GEP (Gauteng Economic Propeller) were so impressed with our initial work and business plans, they invested in our incubation process. This entails taking a seamstress (or anyone in clothing manufacturing industry), an unemployed designer, anyone from needle craft (beadwork or handwork) together with those with an entrepreneurial spirit and place them in a collaborative think tank.”
The incubation consists of 4 modules:
- Upskilling — manufacture and stitching of ready-to-wear garments
- Behaviour of an entrepreneur
- Entrepreneur knowledge and skills
- Business best practice
Sari for Change ensures that there is ongoing coaching and mentorship, up until sustainability is reached.
Making the circle bigger
Out of this, a township economy is being born with the first store located in Cosmo City, a vibrant and burgeoning town on the fringe of the sprawling Johannesburg metropolis. Sari for Change paired a seamstress and an entrepreneur-minded individual to further develop their range and feed into the Cosmo City region. The plan is to roll out 10 more such stores and to export the concept into the rest of Africa.
As the women out of the incubation are developing and becoming sustainable start-ups, Sari for Change is making a serious contribution towards a vision of the world where individuals come together to do things for love and not just money; creating functional beauty instead of mindless mass products; and investing in people and spirit and not just in nameless assets. This is what Rayana Edwards regards as ‘the sacred economy’.
“This is exciting,” says Rayana, “because we’re finally at that stage where one can say that Sari for Change is ready! Women from one part of the world have given women in another, a profound gift. And here in South Africa we have transformed that gift into a new fashion item infused with our own creative spirit. That initial gift has created new jobs, new opportunities. This is what Sari for Change is all about!”
