Lounge
For these Indian streetwear labels, it’s about flaunting your roots
Summary
Whether it's through prints, artwork or slogans, niche labels are creating stylish streetwear that reflects their roots or the places they call home
At this moment, if you search for streetwear fashion online, you’d be spoilt for choice. T-shirts, shirts, dresses, featuring quirky prints and slogans—the basic building blocks of streetwear—are one too many. While the options can make any shopper giddy, there is also a sameness that leaves you underwhelmed, especially if you are looking for something unique.
It was a need for clothes that looked different that got Goa-based couple Rene Verma, 37, and Vaibhav Sharma, 45, to start Siesta o’Clock in 2019. Lifestyle journalists at the time, they didn’t have to think too hard about the theme of their label. Having made Goa their home around 2018 courtesy their jobs, they decided to make clothes that “celebrated the rich culture of Goa".
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The first batch of shirts they made that year featured prints of the popular Fontainhas Windows and Goan drinks, feni and urak. “The shirts were bought by our family and friends. We then created an Instagram page where we’d get requests," says Rene. They decided to make their side-hustle a full-time label and job in 2020. Four years on, the label, with a price range of ₹1,290-4,980, sells printed shirts for men, womenswear and kidswear. The USP remains the same: every silhouette sports prints that tell the Goa story, whether it’s the aboli flowers, the Goan bread poie or vignettes from Mapusa market.
For Kochi-based Anjali Asok, 27, a DIY experiment of making two hand-painted shirts for a holiday in early 2023 turned into the streetwear label, House of Urmi, later that year. The products she designs highlight the “roots and history of Malabar". “I’d made the shirts for myself but when I posted pictures online, I received a great response. That’s when I thought it would be nice to start a label that would help me merge my interests in history, art and textiles," says Asok, an architect. The D2C brand, with clothes priced from ₹4,500-9,500, retails primarily via Instagram and its website.
The motivations—whether it’s a need for clothes that look different or crafting fashion based on personal interests—may vary, but streetwear labels like Siesta o’Clock and House of Urmi are looking closely at their roots or the places they call home to set their labels’ offerings apart.
“I think people are looking to go back to their roots and I believe that fashion, along with food, is a good way to do that," says Shoma Badoni, 57, founder of 145East. The Kolkata-based brand is well known for making clothes—shirts, dhoti pants, dresses and tube tops in the price range of ₹1,800- 16,200—centred on the humble gamcha, the handwoven cotton towel used in the region.
“We started 145East in 2017 when we realised that gamcha weaving was dying and we wanted to do something about it," says Bodoni. She wanted to do it in a language that would be understood by youngsters. “Youngsters wear cool clothes made by high street brands while forgetting indigenous textile traditions. So we decided to let gamcha be the war cry," says Bodoni, who lives and works between Kolkata and Dallas, US.
A question of identity
While labels make local culture or geography their USP, what’s worth noting is that the designs, prints or slogans featured on the clothes go beyond stereotypes. At House of Urmi, for instance, you won’t find clothes with imagery of the Kathakali face or coconut trees. You will instead find collections like Kuruthi, a homage to the dance form of Theyyam, or Nizhal, which highlights forgotten aspects of Kerala’s culture like shadow puppetry, Tholpavakoothu. Asok attributes her education in architecture for giving her an aptitude to take up unusual stories and present them in a simple way. There’s a lot of research that goes into the work too. “While I was designing the shirts on Tholpavakoothu, I visited a family of performers, spoke to them and watched a performance as well," she says.
At Shervo, a streetwear label that’s about embracing Punjabi culture, a lot of brainstorming happens before the designs and slogans are chosen. The brand, launched in late 2023, has a limited catalogue of T-shirts and sweatshirts but the imagery and slogans on them—be it the one-worded Jatt/Jatti, Singh/Kaur or tribute tees of deceased rapper Siddhu Moosewala—are unapologetically about representing the community.
“It’s not just about making a shirt look good—it’s about making it mean something to the person wearing it. The ideas come from things we see and feel around us in the community, from phrases to cultural symbols," says Armandip Singh, 18, the founder of the label.
Each of the labels Lounge spoke to said the response from customers has been overwhelming. This is despite the fact that they are all D2C brands that have small production cycles where they don’t make more than 8-10 pieces of a design and mainly take orders from their Instagram handles and websites. “We have a sustained customer base which is a couple of 1000s and ship to all the states, including the Andaman. We also field enquiries from countries like the US, UK, Australia," says Vaibhav. “Fashion is a powerful medium. Many people like these clothes not just because of how they look but because of the stories they tell," says Asok, who only makes clothes to order and is ready to launch a homeware line.
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