Sabyasachi x H&M Collaboration
Was the outright bashing worth it to call out a designer over suspicious sustainable practices?
On paper, the collaboration of ethnic couturier Sabyasachi and the largest fashion retailer H&M should have been a success in turning heads and attracting fashion lovers to have one of the iconic Sabya creations, yet it got a massive backlash due to multiple reasons.
The previous weeks have been controversial ones, from a near-to Haute Couture brand collaborating with a fast fashion brand, the latter plagiarizing indie designer’s work, the praise from the desis living overseas while the grounded ones wanting to cancel it once and for all, we have had it all.
For the sake of being diplomatic and leaving the conclusion to you, I took the time to let things tumble, gaining perspectives from both ends of the spectrum, further providing positives and negatives at its respective areas by being the devil’s advocate.
Ideals of Sabyasachi
The eponymous luxury brand was created by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a graduate from National Institute of Fashion Technology, India, which in itself is a huge name amongst fashion institutes in the country. The brand stands in pride for its promotion of Indian handlooms, handicrafts and weaves.
With a design philosophy of ‘Personalised Imperfection with Human Hands’, the label is known for its luxury ethnic wear: from lehengas to salwars and Indian bridal jewelry, Sabysachi gives us both couture and ready to wear options throughout the year.
Big Love and Wanderlust: The Collection
At its core, the collaboration Wanderlust (with a side of Big Love as its accessory line) combines the textile history of India with contemporary silhouettes and cuts.
“Having done couture for the majority of my career, it is very exciting to bring that finesse of craft to ‘ready-to-wear’ and create whimsical and fluid silhouettes that bring relaxed sophistication to everyday life,” mentions Sabyasachi in the H&M Magazine interview.
Created meticulously within the trademark eponymous brand of Sabyasachi, it was the platform of H&M to reach out to millions of people wanting to grab a piece at a seemingly affordable price. Vintage colours, with the classic indigo blue and khadi white provided the chiffon fabric a desi appeal.
The Swedish brand also got its first Saari thanks to the collaboration, providing its own boho accents for its western audience.
The concept note also mentions athleisure and glamping as its keywords, which the collection incorporates pretty seamlessly. With bomber and photographer jackets having boho chic floral patterns in blue and white, the assignment, no doubt, was aced.
“I wanted wanderlust to help distinguish a global Indian identity”, mentions the designer to Janne Einola, H&M’s country manager, comparing and contrasting the couture and prêt-à-porter sides of fashion, “Sustainability has to be on your mind as a designer today; it’s our responsibility.” he further adds.
History of H&M
Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is one of the renowned clothing retailers in the world. Coming second to Zara, the brand aims to create affordable garments for both the east and the west demographics.
The production occurs at over 700 units in Asia and Europe, which includes suppliers, workers and financial middlemen. As per the statistics of 2020, China, Bangladesh and India are the top 3 manufacturing hubs for H&M.
For the consumer crowd of developing countries, H&M brought with it an array of new affordable designs almost every other month, making them feel at par with the western crowd.
However, each year brings in troublesome news regarding supervisors or people in power oppressing the workers. Some of the reasons behind this has been the striking gender ratio at the workplace (90% supervisors being males, 90% females who are working under them), along with the aim of keeping the wages to as minimum as possible.
‘…we outsource production to independent manufacturers. This means we don’t pay garment worker’s salaries nor can we decide how much they are paid’ H&M mentions on its website, further providing the regulations and minimum requirements they ensure are met to work with a manufacturing agency.
The Contradictions
India celebrated its National Handloom Day no less than a week prior to the collection’s launch, however, the clothing line, according to many, did not uphold the traditions and essence of the national event.
The differences in views first started from multiple netizens voicing their opinion on how the collaboration was a disappointing one. A Haute Couture brand being one with a fast-fashion cloth manufacturing machine did not meet the likes of many fashion enthusiasts, especially the ones who belong in the industry.
Haute Couture with Fast Fashion: For Real?
Shambhavi, a Textile Design graduate from NID mentions a chain of stories on her Instagram clarifying why the collaboration rubs off as revolting to her, says that the collection was “Diluting the age-old craft of block printing and mass producing digitally printed look alike surfaces on poly blends”.
While it is true that textiles of India stand on the pillars of sustainability, slow fashion and sheer patience and efforts, the collaboration could have been a gateway to bring desi prints to fans of Sabysachi in both India and overseas, and what better way to collaborate with a brand omnipresent on the globe to achieve the same, right?
Suspicions on Sustainability
“Your purchase of this product goes towards H&M and allows them to continue producing unsustainably at a great environmental and social cost” mentions Sanjana Rishi a day prior to the launch of the collection. The information was later shown by Vaishali Shadangule as well, going well into the opposition too.
The label claims that 90% of the line has been made in India, with all patterns initially hand-drawn by the Sabyasachi Art Foundation.
However, considering H&M’s history of numerous cases of verbal, physical and sexual abuse filed by the workers, it is best to take everything with a grain of salt.
Since the collection was made as a Ready-to-Wear one, it can be baffling to see it on a site selling Sabyasachi clothing, thus one cannot help but question if it was truly made ethically, keeping workers rights in mind.
The Unremarkable Remakes of Age-Old Impressions
According to some, the collection in itself looked mediocre. Many showed their resentment by mentioning how it provided ‘nothing new’ in terms of Haute Couture which makes all the garments obsolete.
The ones with a funny bone also translated their opinions in memes and casual mockery, mentioning how the same design can be seen in a grandmother’s closet, at less than half the price.
Consequent Statement by Sabysachi
For all the ‘Big Love’ the brand got, a day after its launch, Sabyasachi came up with a statement addressing the issue, wanting to dilute the situation with his own personal experiences and his goal with the collaboration.
“The entire motive behind this collaboration was fulfilment, for me. It is why I designed this extensive range, so everyone could get something.”
The first half of the message gave us the hope that our oppositions would get a closure, only for it to be broken by “What we did not comprehend was the response…it was not only about how quickly it sold out in India, but across all global markets…I struggled with stubborn carts and crashing apps.”
Naïve of us to think that we could get an explanation from the one who trademarked the Bengal Tiger.
The page-long essay turned out to be a praise of thanks for the ones who supported by purchasing the garments, completely ignoring the allegations which went viral previously.
“I also want to take a moment to speak to the young fashion community of India. For the longest time, my pet peeve was that globally we were considered a manufacturing country. I always wanted to break that glass ceiling…where Designed in India would stand strong, alongside, Made in India.”
Yes, it is a great approach to bring India at par with the giant fashion houses in the west. Yet, how is it fair that Indians themselves are being harassed, violated and stripped off of their dignity while creating those exact same pieces that our grandmas used to wear, now at extortionate prices?
The statement could have had more of a resolution if H&M and Sabyasachi are working towards sustainability through this small step of bringing an ethical collection together.
A column by Shobhaa De (an Indian novelist) aptly mentions both the aspects of the event, comparing fast fashion to mere ‘vada pavs’ (a snack item commonly found in North India) to show the cheap-at-price and bulk manufacturing abilities fast fashion has acquired.
The Infamous Tag on Fast Fashion
H&M acts as a great case study in understanding how misleading (yet ready for rectifications) a brand can be. To understand the complete perplexities, the accusations made against fast fashion brands mainly come under a few categories: workers rights, sustainability and exploitation.
Plagiarism and its Nuances
While east was busy cancelling the collaboration, the other side of the globe had Indie fashion designer Bailey Prado falling victim to plagiarism by Shein, a brand currently banned in India, for blatantly recreating her intricate crochet pieces with spandex and polyester.
“ I convinced myself it wasn’t a big deal but now my designs, what has been my whole life for the last 3 years, is now sold to millions of Sheins consumers that will never know about me.” Prado mentions on Instagram, showing the similarities between the designs.
Wage Rates and Exploitation
As of the report by Fashion Transparency Index 2021, almost every (99%) fashion brand is not disclosing the wage rates provided to their workers, which has created suspicion and wariness. Many of these brands also did not seem to have active protocols regarding the pandemic regulations and the safety of their workers, the said source mentioned.
Sustainability and Ethics
It can be disheartening to observe how people can promote plagiarism and pieces which are an environmental hazard at large in the name of affordable clothing.
Surely I have been a guilty party of the fast fashion cycle too, yet with almost no budget to buy clothes and a newfound sense of justice in sustainability, I just end up not buying anything at all.
Final Afterthoughts
Yet, where does this debacle keep the Sabyasachi X H&M collab? Well, countless high fashion designers have withstood their share of criticism for collaborating with fast fashion brands, and Sabyasachi being amongst the initial ones to take the dare, the backlash just seems a bit over-the-top, yet justified in its righteous sense.
…
The drafting of this made me anxious, but I hope I gave you a perspective to think upon. Feel free to take any information for your own use on credit.
Is there anything you want me to cover? Let’s connect through Instagram or LinkedIn. You can also support my work by giving me a tip on Ko-fi!
