NorBlack NorWhite
NorBlack NorWhite is an Indian clothing brand founded by Mriga Kapadiya and Amrit Kumar. More than a brand, NBNW is a community-fueled lifestyle led by two powerful women of Indian origin by way of Toronto. NBNW focuses on maintaining textile culture and artisan communities in India.
The brand has been a lifetime in the making. The founders use their own voice, aesthetics, and community to create products for a global audience. The Toronto-bred designers moved to Bombay, India, in 2010 to explore Indian craft and culture, blending tie-and-dye techniques such as Bandhni and Ikat with unconventional fabrics and silhouettes. Typical NorBlack NorWhite collections include worker jackets, track sets, T-shirts with more oversized fits, flowy textiles, and prints.
With an impressive body of work, NorBlack NorWhite has already collaborated with FILA India, Bephie’s Beauty Supply, Budweiser India, adidas, Air Canada, Melody Ehsani and Footlocker, and Major Lazer “Lean On” music video styling. One of their most iconic products has been the “Colonialism was a Start-Up” tee in collaboration with artist Somnath Bhatt, who formulated the phrase. Available exclusively at norblacknorwhite.com, all products are made-to-order, in line with the brand’s vision to be less wasteful and have proceeds go directly to the people making them.
Dhruv Kapoor
Dhruv Kapoor is an eponymous label projecting the founder’s visual experiences and eclectic tastes. Founded in 2014, it weaves empowerment and feminism into its very fabric. The designer has an inquisitive yet robust process. Every now and then, he picks something he hates and works around it until he falls in love with it. Fascinated with the excesses that India has to offer, Kapoor pairs this with his education and personal affinity for a minimal aesthetic.
With a firm belief that personal style is a statement to the world, Kapoor aims to bring positive conversations around equality. The brand weaves boldness through design to make the wearer feel like their clothes are their armor. Kapoor works closely with talented craftsmen, training them with new techniques, materials, and approaches. As a result, handcrafted embroideries are his bestsellers globally. Today, the label retails worldwide in the USA, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.
JAYWALKING*^
An unapologetic, fun, break-the-rules, unisex brand JAYWALKING*^ combines art, craftsmanship, and sartorial streetwear. Jay Jajal is an Indian fashion designer who burst onto the Indian streetwear scene in early 2019 with JAYWALKING*^ — a label rich in fabrics and design. Every aspect of the brand reflects the founder himself and has well-thought-out, precise visual grammar. From the clothing he makes to how he communicates the brand’s identity, Jay has hit the pulse of what the fashion-forward Indian Gen Z and the cool kid want; it’s rebellious but all in good energy.
Jay is also an artist and has been literally using his clothes as his canvas. His background in traditional fashion and his team of master karigars (craftsmen) brings his art to life through beautiful embroidery and prints. From his knack for dropping the hottest silhouettes to using his logo as a piece of art itself and putting together an incredible color palette on each piece, JAYWALKING*^ dominates the Indian sneakerhead community’s wardrobe. With consumers including the likes of Bollywood celebrities, musicians, and top bloggers from across the world, this brand is going places.
HUEMN
In 2012, the design duo Pranav Misra and Shyma Shetty set out to enmesh tough subjects into their lines, be an ally to a community, focus on craftsmanship and impact, and tell great stories. Nine years later, the brand has done exactly that. HUEMN is a cultural provocateur aiming to celebrate craft, the craftsman, and the viewer while creating a relevant product that is informed by the political, social, and cultural landscape of our times. The brand has an organic origin story. The name itself is a play on words: hue for color, and human in spirit, focused on community and diversity.
The founders met at a design school in India and aspired to create a label that would make exciting, affordable, ready-to-wear clothes that were fearless in approach. Armed with both a contemporary study of fashion and access to skilled artisans omnipresent in India, the brand launched its first line at India Fashion Week in 2012. From being the first label to pair sneakers with the Indian sari on the runway to having conversations about body positivity through their lines, HUEMN has been at the forefront of integrating things that matter to millennials.
