Redefining fashion by reviving 500 year old Kuthampully weaving
Kerala-born fashion designer Jebin Johny has revived 500-year-old dying Kuthampully weaving and has taken his brand to the global level. Jebin launched his luxury brand JEBSISPAR in 2015 which today is an ode to the eco-friendly lifestyle where the ethos of nature preservation prevails. Jebin has styled Vidya Balan for IFFA awards, new Bollywood mom Sonam Kapoor and many other Italian and Mexican actors across the world. He has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and various other reputed magazines.
We caught up with Jebin over a telephonic interview to discover his and his brand JEBSISPAR’s journey
Q: What was your inspiration behind building such a clothing line which walks the talk?
A: Inspiration for the clothing line basically comes from my upbringing. I spent a lot of my childhood in Kerala with my sisters and parents, they have influenced me a lot. It’s a Kerala thing. It has got a lot more to do with the connection I have with Kerala, childhood memories, trees around, and others.
Q: There is one important angle to your clothing line which is providing a decent standard of living to the weavers of Kuthampully garment. Please talk about that. And also mention the innovation you have got into it.
A: There is nothing innovative in it. Kerala is known for handloom weaving since ancient times. We are working on patterns and customized garments which are gaining a lot of importance these days and we are encashing that. Talking about weavers, before they were being exploited by people who gave them business. They used to pay them Rs. 200 or Rs.160 per day, but we provide them fair wages.
Q: How many days does it take to make one saree and may I know the range of your saree?
A: One saree approximately takes one day and costs around Rs 10,000 to Rs 23,000.
Q: Who are your target audience? Will the brand be affordable to all?
A: We're a luxury brand and of course, it is not affordable to everyone. We can make it a lot more affordable but we need to compromise on a lot of things. We have handloom weaving and block printing. Thus, there is little difficulty in making garments extremely affordable for everyone.
Q: Is there global acceptance for our traditional fabric? Do we have high demand in international markets for Indian fabric?
A: History says that before colonization, India was a leading producer of garments. There is a huge market even today. Regarding my business, we do have a good reach. At a global level, we did do some good business. Kerala's Kuthampully garments have seen a lot of demand in Europe. The clothes are light in weight, breezy and colorful so they do like to wear such clothes.
Q: Now that you have styled Vidya Balan and Sonam Kapoor, who is the next celebrity you aspire to style? Is there any politician you want to style?
A: Oh yes many many, there is Deepika and Priyanka. I never thought about styling a politician but if I had to choose then maybe Priyanka Gandhi.
Q: Coming to the last question, GMwhat makes your clothing line sustainable and how many liters of water is used in making one saree?
A: No brand can be completely sustainable. I say this because there are a lot of things involved when we talk about carbon emissions. Being specific to water, yes it’s a cotton-based garment and it does require a lot of water, and as I said we are working on it.
Talking about sustainability, there are two things I would like to mention here. One is that I am sustaining the craft of Kerala which is actually dying. We have a lot of weavers who are dependent on this brand and we are sustaining them too. If we stop supporting them it’s going to get hard and another angle is making fashion sustainable and environment conscious which helps us to leave a better planet for our future generation.
