Easy-breezy clothes with a spirit of wanderlust marks the Summer Somewhere style. We chat with Meghna Goyal, the founder of the brand about the journey so far and their eco-friendly initiatives.
How old is the brand?
We launched in December 2019. It’s been a tough journey, going through the pandemic, right at the beginning of the launch. It was hard but we worked through it and are really happy with the way everyone has been responding to it.
Did you study fashion?
I didn’t. I actually studied marketing. I was also working in marketing earlier... brand strategy, while I was in New York. Then I moved back home and worked a little here as well, in the marketing industry, but it wasn’t working out for me because things were different in India.
My family is in the garments business. My mom’s a fashion designer too and I have always been surrounded by this world of fashion and I have always had a good sense of it and I thought this was the right time to start a label of my own.
It’s a fresh and happy brand...
I am glad you used that word because that’s exactly the feeling we are trying to evoke in our consumer. It’s a feeling that you get from just being in that piece of clothing versus the idea of just a piece of clothing.
Growing up, travel has been an important part of my life and I think that’s what’s really shaped who I am, experiences I have had in my life, the different cultures that I have experienced. The idea of a vacation and the people shopping right before they go on a holiday because you have a certain idea of what you want to look like or feel like and not have the stress of going there and figuring it out. You’d like to curate your wardrobe before you go. That’s really something that I wanted to cater to because I felt it was missing in the Indian market at that time. Like you said, it’s super easy-breezy. You can also wear it when you are hanging out at home or going out for lunch or dinner. The idea is laid-back because that’s who I am. I like dressing easy and I have a laid-back sense of style.
Do you design yourself?
I have a team but of course I started off doing everything by myself. Now since we are growing, the team has been growing.
Tell us about your new drop, Drop XI...
The new drop explores our constant love affair with adventure and an endless summer. We wanted to create something that’s filled with colour and textures, as an ode to the bright days ahead of us as the world moves towards a more optimistic future.
The brand has been about conscious fashion. Tell us a bit about that journey...
To start off, we wanted to make sure that we are doing everything right. I don’t want to use the term ‘sustainability’ too loosely. We started off with a certain idea of what the brand was going to be, which was using natural fibres, supporting a social enterprise that we had partnered with called Grow Trees... we were planting one tree for every order that was purchased.
As we explored that world a little more, we realised that there was so much more that needs to be addressed. We partnered with another company called ReCircle. For every purchase that is made on the website, we get 1kg of plastic that’s recovered from landfills and ocean. These are all low-grade plastics that can’t be recycled, but this gets repurposed. We don’t need to produce plastic and we also need to recover the over-production of plastic. ReCircle recovers the plastic on our behalf and they make charpoys and tote bags out of it. They weave it together to make products.
Now coming to Relove (Relove Summer Somewhere, powered by Relove Tech), which is our new initiative of having a more circular economy because over-production has been at an all-time high at this time and the fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to the pollution that we have on earth today. We have this platform where we can educate our customers as to what you can do better in terms of your lifestyle?
Even though we produce in small quantities, mindfully, we also want to make sure that we think about the afterlife of that product. We don’t want it to end up in a landfill. If you are bored of it, resell it. I didn’t realise how many people there would be in buying second-hand products. There is a whole world there we didn’t even know existed. The price points are lower and so many more people can now afford to buy it. It’s here to stay. Relove gives us the technology for us to be able to host this platform on our website itself.
Meghna Goyal
Summer travel essentials:
A good set of coordinates is a must. Pack light and make sure you get the most out of the outfits.
Always carry a good button-down linen shirt. You can throw it over anything, like a swimsuit or a pair of trousers. It is so easy-breezy and comfortable.