Accessibility remains a crutch for the slow fashion movement, and off-the-rack sustainable alternatives are clearly the need of the hour; the Purna Das Road boutique studio Pastiche can help you out in your pursuit of an ethically conscious shopping list. The six-month old store, set up in an old timey residential building is a space where you can find environmentally-sound apparel, lifestyle goods, jewellery, interior decor props, home essentials, luggage, and much more - kind of a smorgasbord of cleanly produced goods which can gear you towards a more conscious lifestyle.
"Being from a design school, I always had an aptitude for fashion. We came across this house and that's actually what drew me more towards this idea. Of course, fast fashion was never an option considering how harmful that is and the toll it takes on the environment. When you start looking into sustainable fashion, you discover a lot. So we wanted to promote sustainable crafts and hand-made merchandise under one roof,” Utsha Das, the mind behind Pastiche, tells us.
Pastiche currently houses around 25 sustainable brands from across the country. The first thing we noticed when we dropped by the space on a weekday afternoon, was a set of hand-painted wooden drawer set; we even found some book ends and coasters and some very useful artisanal home essentials. The silver antique jewellery has to be one of the biggest draws for the studio and Utsha reveals they are some of the best-sellers. “They are all one-of-a-kind as they are not mass-produced. Besides silver antique jewellery, we also have copper handmade bling, textile-based jewellery,” she reveals.
But Pastiche’s most significant niche would definitely be as a one-stop-platform for sorting out your wardrobe needs, as it gears you away from toxic, fast fashion options. We found some organic, hand-block printed numbers from Ahmedabad-based label Chhapa. The brand also makes cushion covers, handbags and luggage. “The bags are made out of organic cotton canvas, leather trimmings and vegan leather,” Utsha reveals. Pastiche also stocks some easy workwear numbers from Mumbai-based brand Staple, quirky shirts from Awdhesh Kumar and heritage handloom weaves from Indigo Eth.
The studio sources directly from artisans and weavers from across the country, so people can have direct access to their work. Pastiche brings in textiles from Shantipur and Phulia, Ajrakh prints from Gujrat, you’ll also find unadulterated honey directly sourced from the Sundarbans.
“People in Kolkata have a very good understanding of what sustainable techniques are, but of course, it's a price-sensitive market and you need a larger number of people willing to invest in this change. Retail brands also have a system of toxic production processes and unfair wages so when you buy into that, you’re cultivating that culture. We’ve noticed once people come into our store, they are really interested in what we do and end up buying something or the other,” Utsha remarks.
Apparel starts from Rs 500 and bags start from Rs 700.