The 2018 Global James McGuire Business Plan Competition Award has been bagged by Indian fashion design student Ashita Singhal. Her business concept, ‘Paiwand’, that aims for sustainable fashion waste management via upcycling textile waste from fashion designers and turning it into designer fabrics and clothing, paved her way to the victory.

The postgraduate from Indian fashion design institute, Pearl Academy, also received a handsome sum of US $ 25,000 as the prize money to kick start her business venture.

She aims to develop a collaborative movement that will transform the industry’s social and environmental standards. In fact, the literal meaning of ‘Paiwand’ means patchwork and has a model that will spell out the process for creating sustainable, quality work for its artisans.

The selection committee appreciated Singhal for her entrepreneurship skills and passion for sustainability as she outshined 14 graduate and 16 undergraduate teams from different countries to bag the top spot.

Singhal’s B2B model involves collection of textile waste from different design houses, fashion brands and artisans, and subsequent cleaning and up-cycling to make new fabrics through the process of hand-weaving. The fabric is then sold back to the design houses and brands from where it was bought and can be further used to create a sustainable range of garments.

Nandita Abraham, President, Pearl Academy, said, “Ashita’s’ award is an acknowledgement of the fact that sustainable design can help change the world. I am proud of Ashita and her super set of mentors who have brought laurels to our country.”