RE-VO-LUTION 1 - 16/8/2022

FASHION

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During the 1950s, the Indian fashion scene was exciting,
stylish and very graceful. There were no celebrity
designers or models, nor were there any labels that were
widely recognised. The value of a garment was judged by
its style and fabric rather than by who made it. It was
regarded as perfectly acceptable, even for high-society
women, to approach an unknown tailor who could make a
garment for a few rupees, providing the perfect fit, finish
and style. They were proud of getting a bargain, and of
giving their own name to the end result.

The 1960s was an era full of mischievousness and

celebration in the arts, music and cinema. The period was
characterized by freedom from restrictions and, in the
fashion world, an acceptance of innovative types of
material such as plastic and coated polyester. Tight-fitting
kurtas and churidars and high coiffures were a trend
among women.

The following decade witnessed an increase in the export

of traditional materials, and the arrival in India of
international fashion. Synthetics became trendy, and the
disco culture affected the fashion scene.

It was in the early 80s when the first fashion store

‘Ravissant’ opened in Mumbai. At that time garments
were retailed for a four-figure price tag. American
designers like Calvin Klein became popular. In India too,
contours became more masculine, and even the salwar
kameez was designed with shoulder pads.

With the evolution of designer stores came the culture of

designer fashion, along with its hefty price tags. Whatever
a garment was like, consumers were convinced that a
higher price tag signified elegant designer fashion, so
garments were sold at unbelievable prices. Meanwhile,
designers decided to get themselves noticed by making
showy outfits and associating with the right celebrities.
Soon, fashion shows became competitive, each designer
attempting to out-do the other in theme, guest list and
media coverage.

In the last decade of the millennium, the market shrank

and ethnic wear made a comeback. During the recession,
there was a push to sell at any cost. With fierce
competition, the inevitable occurred: the once hefty price
tags began their downward journey, and the fashion-show
industry followed suit. However, the liveliness of the
Indian fashion scene had not ended - it had merely
reached a stable level.

At the beginning of the 21 st century, with new designers

and models, and more sensible designs, the fashion
industry accelerated once again. As far as the global
fashion industry is concerned, Indian ethnic designs and
materials are currently in demand from fashion houses
and garment manufacturers. India is the third largest
producer of cotton, the second largest producer of silk,
and the fifth largest producer of man-made fibers in the
world.
The Indian garment and fabric industries have many
fundamental advantages, in terms of a cheaper, skilled
workforce, cost-effective production, raw materials,
flexibility, and a wide range of designs with sequins,
beadwork, and embroidery. In addition, that India
provides garments to international fashion houses at
competitive prices, with a shorter lead time, and an
effective monopoly on certain designs, is accepted the
whole world over. India has always been regarded as the
default source in the embroidered garments segment, but
changes in the rate of exchange between the rupee and the
dollar have further depressed prices, thereby attracting
more buyers. So the international fashion houses walk
away with customized goods, and craftwork is sold at
very low rates.
As far as the fabric market is concerned, the range
available in India can attract as well as confuse the buyer.
Much of the production takes place in the small town of
Chapa in the eastern state of Bihar, a name one might
never have heard of. Here fabric-making is a family
industry; the range and quality of raw silks churned out
here belie the crude production methods and equipment.
Surat in Gujarat, is the supplier of an amazing set of
jacquards, moss crepes and georgette sheers - all fabrics
in high demand. Another Indian fabric design that has
been adopted by the fashion industry is the ‘Madras
check’, originally utilized for the universal lungi, a simple
lower-body wrap worn in southern India. This design has
now found its way on to bandannas, blouses, home
furnishings and almost anything one can think of.

Ethnic Indian designs with batik and hand-embroidered

motifs have also become popular across the world.
Decorative beadwork is another product in demand in the
international market. Beads are used to prepare accessory
items like belts and bags, and beadwork is now available
for haute couture evening wear too.

Practical Example: H&M FOUNDATION

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Challenge
Making the fashion industry more sustainable is a massive
paradigm change, and one best made via an ecosystem of
partners and open innovation.

The non-profit H&M Foundation teamed up with KTH Royal

Institute of Technology and Accenture to create the Global
Change Award (GCA) to help accelerate the fashion industry
on this journey.

Now in its sixth year, the GCA continues to drive change

through the innovations of today and the solutions of
tomorrow. Across the first five years of the GCA, 25 winners
were chosen from 20,000+ entries across 200+ countries. This
year, H&M Foundation collaborated with Accenture on The
Billion Dollar Collection, a virtual fashion collection
presenting 10 of the GCA winners working to change the face
of the fashion industry.

Strategy and Solution

Every year, the world uses more resources than our planet can
sustain. With fashion as one of the most planet-intensive
industries, the non-profit H&M Foundation, wanted to shift
from “take-make-waste” production and consumption models
to a “take-make-take-make-take-make” economy that
eliminates waste.

How could the global foundation help the industry create

fashion for a growing population while protecting the planet?
It knew it needed strong partners to help reinvent the fashion
industry. As a result, H&M Foundation collaborated with
Accenture and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in
Stockholm to apply and accelerate innovation at scale through
the Global Change Award.
The Global Change Award is one of the world’s biggest
challenges for early stage innovation and the first initiative of
its kind in the fashion industry. It identifies ideas that apply
disruptive technology and new business models to change the
way garments are designed, produced, shipped, bought, used
and recycled.

Accelerating innovation
The H&M Foundation, KTH and Accenture co-developed the
GCA accelerator concept and overall program structure using
an open innovation approach. Since 2015, all three
organizations continue to develop the program together, for
example, contributing:
 ● Innovation: An innovation accelerator and coaching to
help the winners turn their ideas into reality. Accenture
offers knowledge and insights into the future of fashion
and retail.
● Analytics: Analytics and thought leadership to identify
the trends shaping sustainable fashion. Accenture
creates a report on the trends in circular fashion and
open innovation to share with the broad industry.
● Ecosystems: Accenture also helps the five winners
each year to build bridges in the broader ecosystem,
bringing in other start-ups and more established
businesses to help create partnerships for innovation.

Transformation
H&M Foundation and its partners, KTH and Accenture, are
helping to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
Shifting to a circular economy presents a paradigm change for
the industry—modernizing fashion’s global production and
consumption in a way unseen since the Industrial Revolution.
With H&M Foundation’s help and direction, fashion start-ups
in the circular economy are acquiring the knowledge and
skills to develop and scale their ideas into fully fledged
businesses. The award program helps the winners to
accelerate results and make a lasting change on the industry—
and the world.

Creating more sustainable fashion is helping to attract future

customers and employees who increasingly demand greater
transparency and clothes with a conscience. The shift toward
circular fashion is bringing new benefits for the industry, such
as reduced material costs, improved customer relationships
and reduced risk of resource exhaustion. Together, the H&M
Foundation, KTH and Accenture are pushing the boundaries
of what’s possible by nurturing green, disruptive ideas and
technology that will shape the future of fashion.

Creating more sustainable fashion is helping to attract future

customers and employees who increasingly demand greater
transparency and clothes with a conscience. The shift toward
circular fashion is bringing new benefits for the industry, such
as reduced material costs, improved customer relationships
and reduced risk of resource exhaustion. Together, the H&M
Foundation, KTH and Accenture are pushing the boundaries
of what’s possible by nurturing green, disruptive ideas and
technology that will shape the future of fashion.

One of the 2017 winners, EON-ID, creates tiny RFID threads

with a digitalized “ingredients list.” The threads, which can
be sewn into garments, aim to make the recycling process
more efficient and less wasteful by proactively identifying the
garment’s materials. The Global Change Award helped the
team move beyond proof of concept to commercialized
technology, as well as build partnerships with large global
brands that are purchasing and introducing EON-ID RFID
Thread technology into their value chains. Just one year later,
the company has moved from having five sample threads to
producing significant amounts.
 FRIENDSHIP

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A.

For many hundreds of thousands of people

worldwide, online networking has become enmeshed
in our daily lives. However, it is a decades-old insight
from a study of traditional social networks that best
illuminates one of the most important aspects of
today’s online networking. In 1973 sociologist Mark
Granovetter showed how the loose acquaintances, or
‘weak ties’, in our social network exert a
disproportionate influence over our behavior and
choices. Granovetter’s research showed that a
significant percentage of people get their jobs as a
result of recommendations or advice provided by a
weak tie. Today our number of weak-tie contacts has
exploded via online social networking. ‘You couldn’t
maintain all of those weak ties on your own,’ says
Jennifer Golbeck of the University of Maryland.
‘Online sites, such as Facebook, give you a way of
cataloging them.’ The result? It’s now significantly
easier for the school friend you haven’t seen in years
to pass you a tip that alters your behavior, from
recommendation of a low-cholesterol breakfast cereal
to a party invite where you meet your future wife or
husband.

B.
The explosion of weak ties could have profound
consequences for our social structures too, according
to Judith Donath of the Berkman Center for Internet
and Society at Harvard University. ‘We’re already
seeing changes,’ she says. For example, many people
now turn to their online social networks ahead of
sources such as newspapers and television for trusted
and relevant news or information. What they hear
could well be inaccurate, but the change is happening
nonetheless. If these huge ‘supernets’ – some of them
numbering up to 5,000 people – continue to thrive and
grow, they could fundamentally change the way we
share information and transform our notions of
relationships.

C.
But are these vast networks really that relevant to us
on a personal level? Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary
anthropologist at the University of Oxford, believes
that our primate brains place a cap on the number of
genuine social relationships we can actually cope
with: roughly 150. According to Dunbar, online social
networking appears to be very good for ‘servicing’
relationships, but not for establishing them. He argues
that our evolutionary roots mean we still depend
heavily on physical and face-to-face contact to be able
to create ties.
D.
Nonetheless, there is evidence that online networking
can transform our daily interactions. In an experiment
at Cornell University, psychologist Jeff Hancock
asked participants to try to encourage other
participants to like them via instant messaging
conversation. Beforehand, According to Dunbar,
some members of the trial were allowed to view the
Facebook profile of the person they were trying to
win over. He found that those with Facebook access
asked questions to which they already knew the
answers or raised things they had in common, and as
result were much more successful in their social
relationships. Hancock concluded that people who use
these sites to keep updated on the activities of their
acquaintances are more likely to be liked in
subsequent social interactions.

E.
Online social networking may also have tangible
effects on our well-being. Nicole Ellison of Michigan
State University found that the frequency of
networking site use correlates with greater self-
esteem. Support and affirmation from the weak ties
could be the explanation, says Ellison. ‘Asking your
close friends for help or advice is nothing new, but we
are seeing a lowering of barriers among
acquaintances,’ she says. According to Dunbar,
People are readily sharing personal feelings and
experiences to a wider circle than they might once
have done. Sandy Pentland at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology agrees. The ability to
broadcast to our social group means we need never
feel alone,’ he says. The things that befall us are often
due to a lack of social support. There’s more of a
safety net now.’

F.
Henry Holzman, also at MIT, who studies the
interface between online social networking and the
real world, points out that increased visibility also
means our various social spheres – family, work,
friends – are merging, and so we will have to prepare
for new societal norms. ‘Well have to learn how to
live a more transparent life,’ he says. ‘We may have
to give up some ability to show very limited glimpses
of ourselves to others.’

G.
Another way that online networking appears to be
changing our social structures is through dominance.
In one repeated experiment, Michael Kearns of the
University of Pennsylvania asked 30 volunteers to
quickly reach consensus in an online game over a
choice between two colors. Each person was offered a
cash reward if they succeeded in persuading the group
to pick one or other color. All participants could see
the color chosen by some of the other people, but
certain participants had an extra advantage: the ability
to see more of the participants’ chosen colors than
others. Every time Kearns found that those who could
see the choices of more participants (in other words,
were better connected) persuaded the group to pick
their color, even when they had to persuade the vast
majority to give up their financial incentive. While
Kearns warns that the setting was artificial, he says
 it’s possible that greater persuasive power could lie
with well-connected individuals in the everyday
online world too.

THE ZELENSKY' VOGUE

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskky and his wife
Olena Zelenska graced the pages of Vogue magazine in
a cover story that is drawing admiration from some
quarters and criticism from others.

Photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the intimate shoot

shows the first couple in the Ukrainian presidential
compound, in an underground shelter, and among
soldiers; it is accompanied by a lengthy interview with
the first lady.

The feedback was mixed—partially because society has

a tendency to assume that fashion is reserved for the
frivolous, and partially because Vogue has bungled
interviews with wives of heads of states in the past.
Others complained that the pictures seemed to glamorize
war.

But all along, Ukraine’s first couple has shown they

understand how critical public perception is, as well as
fashion’s role in it.

Especially in light of remarks from CIA director William

Burns last week that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is
counting on fading interest in the war to gain the upper
hand, the shoot stands out as a success. The Zelensky are
smart to use Vogue as a means of keeping attention on
the grim situation in their country, helping to ensure the
future flow of foreign weapons and aid.

The realities of the Ukraine war vs. people’s

expectations. Val Voschchevska, a Ukrainian digital
creator and activist, shot back at critics expecting a
Hollywood version of the war. “So you’d rather we be
miserably sitting in bomb shelters and crying-than trying
to be heard via any means available to use like
@ZelenskaUA in @voguemagazine. Soz, if the way a
war looks doesn’t meet your expectations.”

Voshchevska also retweeted posts from other accounts

pointing out there was uproar against the magazine’s
images but not at videos emerging that appear to show
Russian soldiers committing crimes against humanity.

For years, psychologists have advocated that grief and

suffering is highly individual and can be expressed in
many forms. While there is carnage on the frontlines and
missile strikes are a real, frequent threat, five months
into the war, people must try to carry on with some
semblance of normal life.
Other regions may be less secure but Kyiv recently has
seen a rebound in its population. According to Kyiv
mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, a mass exodus at the start of
the war dropped the Ukrainian capital’s population from
3.5 million to around 1 million people. But mobile
phone data indicated that by early May, this figure had
risen to 2.2 million. There’s even a return to nightlife as
people seek connection, relief, and normalcy.

During her trip to the US this month, first lady Zelenska

directly linked staying in the global media spotlight to
saving lives.

“It’s important for us that the support does not vanish,”

she said in an interview with NBC, “that you do not lose
the drive, that support stays strong, and the speed with
which you support us also increases because every day
brings new victims.”