By Noor Anand Chawla
Suja Ayers was first introduced to the concept of slow fashion during her time sourcing Indian designs for a boutique attached to the Alila Hotel in Oman, when her husband was posted there. The items had to be eco-friendly and adhere to fair trade practices. “While sourcing products for this brand, I built many contacts in the fashion industry with similar values, and realised that customers are now very keen to understand the source of whatever they buy,” she says.
This inspired her to launch her own brand Pala Designs, on her return to India two years ago. Pala means Champa flower in Malayalam, and she believes this fragile flower aptly signifies the year her business took off—2020. Ayers began by working with two weavers—from Phulia and Sarli in Gujarat. Choosing to highlight the beauty of the textile, she focussed on comfort-fit silhouettes for her first collection.
Next, she worked with kala cotton fabrics, which were specially block printed in Delhi by Mahesh, a craftsman who despite his polio-induced physical disability is skilled in creating both blocks and prints. This collection also included jackets made with the Boro technique (mending or repairing in Japanese). Taking nature as the inspiration for her next collection, set for launch in July, she has liberally used the green shades of treetops and brown of earth.
Ayers also works with upcycled saris to create fresh new versions. “Working with preloved saris requires a lot of patience because you have to sift through mountains of saris, separating the good and bad. The upcycling process brings out the best of your creativity as you have to imagine an end product from the fabric in your hand. Never is one sari the same as the other, so each piece is unique,” she explains.
In keeping with its brand philosophy, Pala Designs produces just a few garments of each design, in an affordable price range. These remain on its website designsbypala.com, till they are sold. Apart from online sales, Ayers also takes orders through her Instagram handle @designsbypala, and when not in lockdown, can be found at the Sunder Nursery Earth Collective market on alternate weekends.