#rinasingh

#INSIDEACCESS : Eka

If I have to ever define Eka, I’ll probably say that it’s an Indian label that creates everyday luxurious comfort wear for women with a dash of femininity and promise of sustainability. But an even more intriguing fact about Eka is that their clothes let you create a distinctive vibe of your own. While wearing their clothes, I felt more poised and uninhibited thanks to their timeless, free-flowing silhouettes and rich, natural textiles. This resulted in a chat session with Rina Singh about the story and the ideologies of Eka. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

What does Eka signify?

So, Eka was the name of my first collection and it means one. For me, it was like creating a unique identity, making one language out of different craftsmanship like the various stages in which we make a product. It’s just not that you buy the product, embroider it, make a kurta and sell it. It’s more than that. You weave the fabric, you design textiles and then you make yarns sometimes or you make blends sometimes. You think about what kind of weave, what kind of weight do you want the textile to have, A lot of people do this work with me eventually. It’s just not me. Putting it all together under one umbrella was calling the brand Eka. Even that’s what it stands for today. I never wanted it to be my name or that I am the only person that makes it.

It’s been 7 years since your first collection. How would you describe the journey so far?

It’s been interesting. I think I was at the right place at the right time. I didn’t start Eka immediately after I graduated from college. I worked at NIFT for about five years with their craft and research development sector. We used to travel to rural villages and craft belts to get a lot of work done from there, to study different craft techniques. Later, I worked with ITC where I used to do lot of international travel. In the process, I figured that there is so much more that can happen from India and I had reached a stage where I didn’t want to work for a corporate. I wanted to do something of my own. So, I started a label that I wanted to wear because I couldn’t find the kind of clothes I wanted to wear In India. I could find them outside India but then it was really expensive. So, I thought, why not cater to a market that is not there. Ironically, I thought I could never sell in India. Therefore, I made a collection and took it abroad. My first show was in London where I met Maureen and I started retailing at the iconic Egg shop. That was my first order and I continued. Two years later, I started retailing in India and there has never been looking back. Eventually, the language that I started with and where I am today, adding to it and editing it more and more every season, realizing that there is certain audience that you are speaking to, to be truthful to them, to evolve and evaluate your brand every season is the challenging part. But I kind of enjoy doing what I do.

You just mentioned that you didn’t think you would ever have market in India for Eka. But how do you feel now?

The customer base has grown organically. Anybody who has bought it once has wanted to buy it again. I don’t think it has happened in a way that we have just arrived at the fashion scene. What has happened instead is that with every season the accessibility increased and the viability increased. The customer, who bought earlier, came back and bought again because they find value in the product. I think, therefore, people want us more because they find value in the piece of clothing they have.

What’s the common thread that ties all your collections together?

I think textiles. I have always worked with the same weavers and craft people. I have a printing studio downstairs. We continue making blocks in Pithapur, Gujrat. So, there is consistency in the kind of work we do. Still, the common thread has to be textiles but how I am using it as a language changes every season. There’s always a different story to it.

What is your idea of sustainability?

For me, obviously, it’s not just a hashtag because now in fashion it has become like one and is being used as a marketing aspect. I think being sustainable means being meaningful. But being meaningful means that you reuse it, you don’t throw it away or buy too much. You know, cotton uses so much water to be manufactured so, even cotton is not sustainable. The only thing is that you can dispose it off and it becomes part of the Earth. Therefore, I only work with natural textiles. But, I think more important than that is sustaining crafts, sustaining livelihoods, sustaining people who you work with and sustaining a point of view. After all, this is also sustainability.

Who is an ideal Eka muse?

Everybody that chooses to wear Eka has a mindset for it. I don’t think every woman craves an Eka outfit. So, anybody who chooses to wear it has a reason behind why they want it. Maybe they love the hand feel, maybe they love simplicity or maybe they love how it feels or falls on their body. Anybody would buy Eka only because they find a value preposition in it. So, in that sense, I cherish every single person that wears it. But if there’s person who is a muse, I think, is Arundhati Roy because she has a personality that kind of inspires or maybe in some ways is similar to mine. I kind of find myself in her or see her in me little bit. I don’t know how else to define a muse. I think, in terms of clothes, every woman who wears my clothes is special to me.

Charm yourself with their simple, hand-crafted designs by following them on Facebook and Instagram. 

Photography: Tejinder Singh