Bengaluru’s Susan Fernandes transforms saris into modern silhouettes!

In an era where sustainability has become both a buzzword and a badge of virtue, there are few designers who can genuinely claim to have practised it long before it became fashionable. Bengaluru-based label Sustainable Suz, helmed by designer Susan Fernandes, is one such rare designer. For three decades Susan has quietly, consistently and convincingly transformed India’s extraordinary textiles into garments that are not only contemporary and wearable, but deeply personal too. While many designers have only recently begun speaking the language of upcycling, Sustainable Suz has long been fluent in it. Susan’s work centres on reimagining old fabrics, heirloom saris and leftover pieces of clothing into breathable, modern silhouettes that feel relevant without erasing their past.

The most compelling chapter of Susan’s journey began after the pandemic, a period that fundamentally altered how we dressed — and what lay forgotten in our wardrobes. With celebrations cancelled and social calendars wiped clean, saris once reserved for special occasions remained untouched. “Nobody was wearing their saris,” Susan recalls. “There was nowhere to go for two or three years,” she adds. Rather than letting them languish, she began reworking her own saris — purely for herself. But when she shared these reinventions on Instagram, the response was immediate and emotional.

Soon, clients began bringing her saris belonging to mothers and grandmothers — garments steeped in memory and meaning. Fernandes transformed them into sharply tailored bomber jackets, elegant trench coats and fluid jackets that skim the body. “The beauty is, you do feel their presence,” she says softly. “It’s warm around you,” she adds. These are clothes that do more than dress the body; they carry stories, histories and an intimacy that cannot be replicated.

At the heart of Sustainable Suz lies a refusal to take the obvious route. Susan is unapologetic about her dislike for predictable silhouettes. “I cannot bear saris converted into salwar kameez,” she admits. “It’s the most boring thing on earth.” Instead, her aesthetic leans towards western silhouettes — fitted waistcoats, long trench coats, jackets and coordinated top-and-trouser sets — crafted from unmistakably Indian fabrics. The result is a wardrobe that feels global in form yet rooted in tradition.

For a recent show curated by Prasad Bidapa, Susan briefly stepped away from upcycled heirlooms to work with newly sourced saris — but even then, her principles remained intact. Her silhouettes were showcased on male models, proving her unique sense of design spans genders and every fabric was sourced exclusively from khadi and handloom units across India, collected during her travels through Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. “When I travel, I only go to khadi and handloom shops,” she says. “You get the best of their local textiles,” she tells us.

Detail, for this designer, is not limited to what is visible. The linings of her garments are as considered as their exteriors — often made from pure cotton or silk saris, never synthetic. “The inside that touches you should be as beautiful,” she insists. It is a philosophy that reflects both comfort and respect — for the wearer and the material. There is also something refreshingly anti-industry about Susan’s approach. Her work is not seasonal. Collections do not arrive with names or prescribed moods. “India never had seasonal clothing,” she points out. “We wore the same things year-round. We’re just aping the west with multiple collections — and wasting so much fabric unnecessarily,” she adds. At Sustainable Suz, garments evolve organically, driven by intention rather than calendars.

Each piece is made through personal interaction. Clients visit the studio, discuss fabrics, take measurements and become part of the process. There is no online cart, no instant checkout — only conversation, craftsmanship and connection. In a fashion landscape increasingly obsessed with speed, novelty and optics, Sustainable Suz offers something quietly radical: clothing that slows you down, invites you in and stays with you — emotionally as much as aesthetically. Susan clearly doesn’t just design garments; she restores meaning to the act of dressing itself.

INR 6,500 onwards. At Magrath Road.

Email: romal@newindianexpress.com

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