Kavita Parmar
Kavita Parmar stumbled into the fashion industry right out of high school and as they say about people who love what they do, feels like she hasn’t worked a day in her life. While at university she worked in a research and product development company in Hongkong for clients like Ralph Lauren, Gap, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor etc. She started her own buying agency living in the far east during her 20s and went on to head the licensing of iconic childrenswear brand OSHKOSH Bgosh in India. After selling that company she moved to Spain and started two womenswear brands based on artisanal craftsmanship, Raasta and Suzie Wong, selling them in over 200 multi brand stores across the globe. In 2008 she opened her own iconic three story retail in callejon de Jorge Juan, the heart of Madrid.
In 2010, convinced that transparency and traceability were the need of the hour she started the IOU Project, creating the hashtag ¨whomademyclothes¨ Each IOWEYOU piece came with a QR code that connected the user back to the artisan weaver and tailor who made the piece thus giving authorship and authentic provenance to the final consumer. The IOU Project documented and put online over 250 master craftspeople in Madras India and was a pioneer in using technology to turn Supply Chains into Prosperity Chains. The IOWEYOU collection is to this day made with artisan communities across the globe and continues to be sold direct to consumer online and through hand picked speciality retailers around the globe.
Kavita has won many awards for her work including the UNSCC Leadership Award, Luxury Briefing Award for Innovation, SOURCE Award by Ethical Fashion Forum London, Sustainable Luxury Award in Latin America, NY Venture Fellow Program, Unreasonable at Sea Program, Levi´s Collaboratory Fellowship etc.
She also teaches design and entrepreneurship courses at various universities besides doing consulting work for clients like NIKE, Levi’s, Ikea and many other medium and small sized projects.
She is reputed speaker on topics like heritage craft, sustainability, social entrepreneurship, innovation, transparency and traceability etc.
In 2018 Kavita started XTANT her most personal project to date.
Together with Marcella Echavarria she curated the first ever global gathering of 45 artisans from 23 countries in Mexico DF, and called it TEXTO | 2020.
The huge success of this first gathering has fuelled the passion for the continued growth of this project making it one of the leading global events celebrating heritage textile knowhow, fibre crafts and regenerative practices.