This swimsuit brand in Mumbai uses fabrics made from fishing nets!
Go swimming and help the earth get rid of plastic. Sounds crazy? However, the 25-year-old Leila Veerasamy created a series of swimsuits by using swimwear made from fishing nets. The irony is – we don’t mean Marina Beach from Chennai or Juhu from Mumbai, the location of Leila. After extensive research to find sustainable material choices, Leila’s brand PA.NI launched the “econyl” (widely recycled nylon) from Italy on Sunday!
Talk about making more efforts for sustainable fashion.
Leila took us back to the WhatsApp conversation in 2016, which sparked the idea. At the time, she graduated from Brown University’s Development and Economics program, working on Mumbai’s influence investment – completely unrelated to the fashion world. “One of my friends went to Goa and needed to buy a swimsuit quickly,” she recalls. Since this is in a WhatsApp group, a group of people posted what they found online – but they were able to find too many options in addition to sports brands with bright neon accents. She said: “I found this country with a developed fashion industry, there is a gap in the market.” Six months later, she decided to jump the department, but kept her mission the same – through her brand has a positive impact.
After two years of fast forward, PA.NI’s first collection included seven designs – including one-piece swimsuits and bikinis. “I did let some fashion design students help me because I have not received training in this area,” Leila shared. But the aesthetic vision is entirely hers. Here, the palette is set to the earthy tones of Babylon (red), Avorio (white) and Mustard (yellow), rather than the ready-made standard orange fluorescent and ink. Before these elements were sent to sustainable procurement factories in Sri Lanka, these decorations were in the form of bars or rings, wrapped in kutchi silk in some traditional Indian heritage, made by local craftsmen in Mumbai and Delhi. Line together.
She said: “Monochrome and simplicity are more impressive and versatile, and can be integrated into everyday wardrobes.” Our bikini tops can be easily used as a crop top and a single piece can be used as a jumpsuit. Making swimsuit transition garments instead of completely changing the entry and exit items in the bathroom is the result of a 100-person survey conducted at a Mumbai coffee shop. . “We found a pattern. Many women are talking about feeling uncomfortable, not wearing a swimsuit, but wearing a clothes,” she said.
In terms of functionality, the survey also expressed concerns about weak chest support and the need for more coverage for some people. To meet these requirements, there are strategic design elements such as a halter neckline and an elastic band for better chest support and coverage near the underarm to prevent side exposure. As for the name, it is easy to guess why ‘pani’ (water in Hindi) was chosen as the name of the brand. However, Leila tells us that it is no coincidence that where she came from in Mauritius, Pani’s Creole translation is “not naked”. After extensive trials of different body and size models, Leila said that these suits designed for Indian women will not make you feel exposed, but rather a series here, and she promises “final fit”.