Something old, something new, something borrowed — all for you

Namrata Narula, 24, has been running a project in Bangalore called New-Improved. Launched last summer, Narula’s project aims to give people something new out of old fabrics — old clothes, second hand garments, scraps from textile or garment factories. Bags, jewellery and more are what this young textile designer fashions out of fabric waste.

“With rising disposable income, people in cities tend to buy a lot of things. This creates a lot of waste. My effort is to control that waste and to continue with the Indian tradition of recycling to create something new and stylish,” says Narula.

Narula, originally from Delhi, did her graduation from the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. She worked as a textile designer for Auroville, where she handled mostly organic fabric and then came back to Bangalore to work for a textile studio. Her graduation project at college had been on creating a line out of recycled clothes. Some time last summer, she wanted to revive the idea on a larger scale and she quit her job to start New-Improved.

“We’ve always had a tradition of reviving and revamping old stuff. A sari gets converted to cushion covers, an old bed sheet gets a makeover as table linen. There are wedding saris people are attached to, old school uniforms people are sentimental about and do not want to throw away. I try and work with these things to give them a new product made out of the old piece they are emotional about,” explains Narula.

New-Improved started as a friends and family kind of a project before it gained momentum. One minute she was crafting bags out of old clothes friends brought in and the next, she was making a console bag for a DJ who brought in his favourite T-shirt with a rock idol on it. “An old lady approached me with her daughter’s school uniform that she had kept for the last 15 years or more,” she laughs.

As New-Improved grew in strength, Narula’s had to go on a fabric collection overdrive. Friends, neighbours and family continuously bring in a steady stream of clothes to be refashioned. “But I also go around the second hand clothes markets in Bangalore as well as the markets that trade in export waste,” she says. “I love using old clothes, as I can fashion something different using the labels, the hooks or the buttons.”

Narula runs New-Improved single-handedly. She plans to recruit a team of workers in the near future, but as of now, she’s the one running the whole show. “Design and execution takes a lot of time, as I have to do it all on my own. So I primarily concentrate on bags. But other products like jewellery, home accessories, even clothes are in the offing,” she promises.

Narula caters to orders from across the country — from Delhi to Goa. Sasha’s Shop in Goa stocks a sizeable amount of her products. For city-based clientele, she depends on the New-Improved Facebook page and word of mouth.

The response she’s got is very positive, she says, enough to keep her going. “I love using vibrant colours and bold patterns, so my bags find a lot of favour from the younger crowd. I have also been approached a by a lot of elderly women, though I suspect I have to modify my style a little bit and tone things to down to suit the tastes of older clientele,” she explains. What has worked in her favour, she feels, is the growing awareness about eco-friendly habits and the need to recycle. “While there is a mind-block against second hand or old clothes, a new product fashioned out of the same finds acceptance these days,” says Narula.

Her next venture would be to work on kantha, the traditional craft from west Bengal. “It is the one craft based on recycling and it absolutely fascinates me,” she says.

She will probably be doing a couple of shows and exhibitions in the city on near future.

But her big plan is to open a store or a boutique next, where, she explains, “people will come in with their old clothing and get new things made, they will buy sensibly and have something crafted or tailored exclusively for them”.