Zero-waste fashion with a personal touch: The LataSita journey

“An upcycled sari not only has a charming sense of newness and nostalgia, but also the smallest carbon footprint,” says Meghna Nayak, founder, LataSita. This evocative statement captures the heart of what Meghna set out to do with her sustainable fashion label, LataSita. Reimagining the forgotten, unworn saris lying in closets across the country, she has created a one-of-a-kind, zero-waste fashion brand—deeply rooted in emotion, aesthetics, and environmental consciousness.

The charm and consciousness of upcycled saris

“Our grandmums have been turning old saris into kanthas, and the more adventurous into kurtas,” Meghna says, “but design-wise it’s usually the same couple of boring things, for personal use, and it wasn’t groovy, stylish or even seen as worthy to wear to, for instance, a wedding or a fabulous party. I wanted to change this and get people to see upcycling as a serious option.”

From that seed of an idea, LataSita was born—not just as a fashion label, but a cultural and ecological intervention.

A conscious shift

Meghna’s journey to LataSita wasn’t direct. “I studied journalism in Cornwall, with a view to be an environmental journalist. I’d always customised my clothes since I was a teenager—adding pockets, changing shapes, hand-altering pieces, all which gave me great pleasure. However, I thought fashion was at best a frivolous industry and I wished no part in it.”

But after returning to Kolkata from the UK and working at a newspaper, she began to confront the harsh realities behind the fashion industry—pollution, waste, and exploitative labour. It triggered a personal reckoning. “I realised that I could enter the fashion supply chain and try, firsthand, to do things differently.”

One day, while trying to figure out what to make her first samples out of, her mother opened her wardrobe—revealing a treasure trove of gorgeous saris, many of which had once belonged to Meghna’s grandmother, a woman she had never met. “It felt like an instant, intimate connection to her,” she recalls. That was the turning point.

“These saris were rarely worn but deeply cherished—some never worn at all. This treasure trove of fabric could not be allowed to decompose unseen and unused even as more and more cloth was being created to satisfy booming demand.”

The name and the process

Why LataSita? Meghna smiles: “I just like how it sounds.” The brand works on two levels—pret (ready-to-wear) and custom. “When I’m in Calcutta, I run my Send Us Your Saree project, which has been running for five years now. People come to me with bags and suitcases of their saris, and I create pieces for them with their textile—sometimes complemented with treasures from my own collection.”

Each piece is shaped by conversations—with clients, tailors, and even with the fabric itself. “I learn to work with each piece’s strengths and frailties and give it new life.”

One particularly moving story stands out. “A lady once came with a beautiful silk sari stained down the front pleats. The stains were caused by her elderly mother, who had Parkinson’s and loved sweets. Every time she ate, her shaky hands would cause the syrup to spill. We kept those stains, incorporating them into a hidden underskirt—so she could remember her mother every time she wore it. Why cut that out?”

These are not just garments—they are memory, emotion, and identity, stitched into form.

Beyond saris

While saris remain her primary medium, Meghna loves working with a variety of materials. “I recently created a sherwani out of tussar curtains. Someone brought her wedding choli and 17 pairs of jeans, none of which fit anymore. We took 12 of those apart and made a fabulous denim jacket.”

Each creation is a challenge—each sari has a fixed width, distinct borders, and often fragile sections. “Even if you create a pattern, the placement changes every time,” she explains. Some saris can’t take stress at seams, so Meghna develops patterns specifically to accommodate these nuances. And true to her zero-waste ethos, she incorporates techniques like zero-waste cutting, extensive darning, restoring, and reviving.

A transparent, closed loop

What sets LataSita apart is its radical transparency. “It’s a short, closed-loop production chain. Any customer can know exactly who made their clothes and can personally see the conditions they are made in.”

It’s an antidote to the mindless overconsumption of fast fashion. Meghna wants people to engage with their clothing, not just consume it.

“There are millions of such saris tucked away in wardrobes across the country. I realised that preserving the future meant preserving the past,” she adds.

— manuvipin@newindianexpress.com

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb677uz60eBXiDYheb0n

https://t.me/+qUK5DvyQQJI2NWFl

https://www.youtube.com/@IndulgeExpress