Get the best of sustainable fashion with Bengaluru's The Good Loom’s debut showcase in Chennai 

It is hard to believe that it has been only nine months since Bengaluru-based The Good Loom debuted at Lakmé Fashion Week with their mix of smart menswear casuals, using ethically produced cottons and linens.  In just a short time, the label by GoCoop, India’s first social marketplace to buy and source handmade apparel, has gone from being just a start-up to a label that not just walked the ramp, but also won the first national award for marketing handlooms. The Good Loom is GoCoop’s first in-house artisanal brand and you now get to go through their latest collection at the showcase in Chennai!

“This is our first time in Chennai and we are very excited to be here,” says Siva Devireddy, the founder and CEO of The Good Loom. “We focus on contemporary styles of handloom — both saris and stoles. And we have been making some great progress working with various weaving clusters across the country.” The brand worked with over 30 clusters, and 3,000 weavers across eight states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Talking about the ethos of the brand, Siva feels that they are trying to fill in the gap between what the weavers want and what the market is looking for. 

Bay Area to Bengaluru
Take a look at their clothes and you’ll see menswear is an integral part of their line, with blazers, button-down jackets and long style shirts all made of natural fabrics like cotton, muslins and linens. For LFW 2018, they showcased a colour scheme which mostly comprised greys, blues, whites and creams, but not without a pop of coral and mustard yellow. The womenswear ranged from a selection of gorgeous and grand chanderi saris, handspun, handwoven khadi and cotton. “Our design philosophy is to create clothing that feels ‘good from the inside’,” says Siva, who was in the IT sector for a decade, and worked in the Bay Area in San Francisco, before he quit and came back to India. His idea was to bring his two passions — tech and India together.  

Star of the show 
Speaking about what’s in store for Chennai, he says that they have a beautiful collection of saris in jamdani, ikat, tussar silk, matkal silk, muslin, sambalpuri ikat and maheshwari chanderi. But perhaps what will really catch your eye is our ilkals.” Siva goes onto explain why this fabric is the star of the show. This North Karnataka-based fabric is the collective result of 80 women weavers, who were trained to make a monochromatic sari, which not only was resplendent but contemporary as well. “The monochromatic ilkal is not available anywhere else,” assures Devi. For the show, they will be showing about 300 to 350 pieces and since the label is on a tri-city showcase, the exhibition will be curated with the best of their designs in tow. 

Starting at `3,000. At Sri Sankara Hall.Till December 1.