It is very important to buy from ethical designers, but how are these designers sustainable? Where do they get their fabrics? Who is making them? Well, the answer is companies, people, and amazing ethical manufacturers, like Sonica Sarna Design. Sonica works predominately with Indian women to make ethical/sustainable/eco-friendly/organic fabrics and clothing for designers all over the world. To learn more about Sonica Sarna Design, and her approach, please read Jejune’s exclusive interview below.

Where are you based?
New Delhi, India for now.

What inspired you to start Sonica Sarna Design?
I feel my whole life, my education in fashion, working in my family’s apparel manufacturing facility, working with fair trade organizations like Ten Thousand Villages, my personal experience as a woman with limited options due to social restraints, educational and financial constructs, and my desire to add value with my life all culminated in starting Sonica Sarna Design.

Why do you feel sustainable fashion is so important?
When we want to solve a big global problem, we start with our own backyard. Problems like environmental pollution and human rights violations are not just out there. They are probably a lot closer to home than we realize. I have been working in fashion in various capacities across the world for almost 20 years. I saw up close the negative impact of fashion before it was globally recognized, because I was so much closer to it. Fashion has so many layers, so much human and environmental contact. Focusing on sustainable fashion is critical to change things for the better.

You use many organic textiles and dyes. Why do you find being organic so important?
Organic simply means making fabrics without using toxic chemicals and fertilizers in the entire process from cotton farming, to weaving and dyeing. The chemicals used in generic cotton make it into the water supply, soil and ecosystem, eventually finding their way into the human body. Their negative impact ranges from destruction of ecosystems and contributing to rising cases of cancer and other diseases due to their carcinogenic nature.

You work with many Artisan communities in India. Why did you choose to work with these populations? India is the land of a few dozen big cities and thousands of villages. The second largest employer in rural India is craft. Not only Is craft central to the rich communal heritage of the villages, it is also eco friendly and entwined within community life. With the growth of the global economy, rural communities simply lack “modern” business skill sets and have been left behind. India is faced with a serious issue of wide spread rural unemployment and the loss of centuries old cultural and textile traditions. This is resulting in mass exodus of entire communities of skilled craftsmen into the cities in search of meager employment as construction workers, rickshaw drivers and eventually beggars and slum dwellers. We work to train artisan communities in apparel industry best practices like delivery management, quality control, sampling, communication and customer accountability, design intervention... all to equip them to receive orders from the international market, which we then help them secure though our sourcing office in New Delhi.

Do you only hire women? If so, why?
Our sewing center Projecthrive that trains women from the slums of New Delhi is an all women’s center. Across our artisanal supply chain of over 40 community partners throughout India, we insist on 50% or greater female employment. The reason is simple. We are doing our part in leveling the playing field. UN statistics show that 90% of the work women do is unpaid. Which also means it’s unacknowledged. Women are looked upon as liabilities, and not educated or invested in by families because they are not bread earners. By encouraging women to be employed and paid as much as men, we are doing our part in breaking though this centuries old disparity. Needless to say, economically empowered women invest in the education and welfare of their children, so its good for families and entire communities.

India is known for having some very unsustainable and less than ideal factories. Do you feel this is changing?
Yes it is. India has increasing stringent labor and safety laws, and most export factories go through various thorough compliances. Ask for documented proof of this when interacting with factories. Our own factory partner Megavickwear is compliant to the Sedex four pillar standards for social, technical, ethical and structural compliance, and is considering the fair trade certification process.

You are involved in water purification. Why is this important to you?
A visit to a block print artisan partner who deposits his waste dye water into the fields where his family is growing its food, or a large dye mill that releases untreated chemical laden water into the sewage that makes its way into the rivers and oceans. Areas in Tirupur in South India now have red soil covering over large regions from the highly concentrated dye deposit to the polluted water run off. Need I say more?

What products do you make and who is your customer base?
We make apparel, fashion accessories, bedding , loungewear, toys and ornaments etc. Our primary customers are American, European and Australian fashion and accessories brands.

How would you like to see the fashion industry progress over the next ten or so years?
I would like our work that spans various facets of sustainability to be better understood, and accepted by the mainstream fashion industry. We would like that fewer and better clothes are made and that Government regulations ensure manufacturing processes like polyester fabric, azo dyes, etc., that are central to fast fashion are banned.

What is your motto in life?
Do the right thing when no one is looking, even when it’s not understood.

To learn more about Sonica Sarna Design, please follower via the below platforms:
www.sonicasarna.com
www.sonicasarna.com/projecthrive
Instagram: sonicasarna
LinkedIn: sonicasarna

Sonica Sarna Design Is All The Buzz Words!