Unborn Studio - Sustainable clothing crafted with plant dyes and handwoven fabrics
A mindful collaboration with nature by Mounica Chitturihe. Unborn Studio is a fashion brand that creates unique, hand-crafted garments that are kind to the environment & people. It is a small business that creates products which go into making your house a home and your clothes an expression.
Creative Director & Founder Mounica Chitturi
This was when I started my research on how to find a balance. In 2019, I started travelling to villages to meet and hear out artisans and understand the reality better.”, she shares. She met artists with incredible skills and inspiring stories. Artists who are working hard to give their children a better future. Artisans are quietly suffering and giving up centuries-old crafts in order to make ends meet. This is when she discovered that fast fashion has the greatest economic and environmental impact on craft communities and fenceline communities. "Unfortunately, individuals like us are so removed from these concerns that we never see these challenges," she believes. We're cut off from practice and from the folks who produce our garments."
She also learned that several designers have been doing amazing work: creating ethical clothes in non-polluting ways. Although this put her at ease for a short while, the insufficiency of their efforts troubled her. She felt responsible to do everything that she can to drive essential change. With a firm resolve to reduce impact, she worked with a handful of sustainable designers who create beautiful work. “While some relentlessly work on reducing their impact, and others, it pains me to say this, greenwash. This only pushed me to understand the lacking even in slow-fashion. This framed our vision and purpose.”, she says.
The founder shares, “Fashion. The meaning of this word evolved considerably since I set out to be a fashion designer. Although fashion was never my preferred career choice, my inclination towards it was obvious to me: I was fascinated by the creativity and glamor of high fashion. For reasons I still don't understand, I had never felt such an appetite to learn anything. So naturally, I kept learning.” She became more intrigued as she learnt more about it. So she devoured everything she could by reading articles and books, watching innumerable interviews and documentaries, enrolling in classes, meeting and speaking with designers, interning, and pretty much everything else. Soon after, she began to notice the less visible aspects of fashion, such as pollution and unethical behaviour. Why Unborn exists is to connect you, with the makers, with nature, and with all the wonderful practices that go into making your clothes. “With absolute transparency in our work, we hope to take you on a journey of making your clothes before you meet them so that they mean more to you. Knowing that I don't stand alone and that there are a great many sustainable designers, who are carrying the torch and taking us towards a sustainable future, I understand that we are all in this together. Together is how humanity has made it this far.” she concludes.
All of their garments are made with one goal in mind: to create rural jobs and revitalize traditional crafts while minimizing our carbon footprint by using environmentally friendly materials and procedures. All of the materials they use are handmade with natural fibres and dyed with natural dyes in villages. Each item is handcrafted one at a time or in limited batches, making each piece completely unique. Their items allow you to immerse yourself in the old, simple, and interconnected ways of living. However, we recognise the significance of progressing with technology that gets us closer to smart sustainability. As a result, we are always researching and incorporating more environmentally friendly and creative materials into our products.
Once I was exposed to reality it was difficult to unsee it. I couldn't hide from the truth anymore. It had changed the way I looked at fashion and I was taken aback. It was overwhelming to learn that fashion, in all its glory, has an Ugly side.
