Lenzing is collaborating with designer Rajesh Pratap Singh to promote Tencel, the man-made fibre which was launched in 1997 in India. A preview ‘Planet Positive’ will be organised on Sustainable Fashion Day during the upcoming Lakmé Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2018. The collection ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is about developing of the fibre into a very interesting yarn.
This is Lenzing’s second collaboration with Rajesh Pratap Singh. Speaking about how the tie-up has helped the company, Sonja Zak, head of Product Management, Lenzing, Austria, said, “The tractions that we get with the local retailers has been very good so with this collaboration we are working with a few Indian brands to actually take Tencel to the next level here.”
Explaining the reason for calling the collection ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, Singh said, “Tencel is about sustainability and we are doing a whole collection, which has a bit of references to the jungle. It is essentially about developing of the fibre into a very interesting yarn.”
The collection to be showcased has both levels. At a very low-tech level it is hand spinning and on the other side its hi-tech mills. “We have taken the fibre and spun it in different ways, weaving it in different parts of the country. The idea is to introduce traditional craftsmen and traditional weaves into this fibre to make it truly sustainable,” said Singh.
For the winter/festive 2018 season Lenzing and Singh are working on Indian traditional silhouettes like the Poshak from Rajasthan. “An attempt is to do a new idea of Indian dancers’ costumes. We are doing an interpretation where you can wear these clothes anywhere with a strong influence on the Indian costumes the colours that will be warm and earthy.”
The first lot of garments will be pure Tencel and all off-white, reveals Singh. “This time wool/silk is tried to get drape-ability in a very rigid structure. Last time we tried to do it, as the fibre tends to drape quite a bit so as to get softer edges. Earlier it was very sharp so we are trying to add drape in it.”
