What led to you creating a brand like Nylangan Hindustan?
We launched our brand — Nylangan Hindustan, aiming to break stereotypes in design and style, by creating an artisanal clothing line that is accessible to all and moves away from the constructs of age to transcend generational boundaries. The name Nylangan is an amalgamation of ‘Nyl’ (/neel/) derived from ‘Neel’ and ‘Angan’ which stands for a courtyard, and is inspired from a mutual love of the colour — Indigo.
Clothes for women, by women: how do you ensure this?
Nylangan offers clothing that constantly re-envisions time tested traditional arts and crafts, to fit the tastes of the modern-day woman. Founded on the belief that fashion needs to be personal, our garments complement different body types and use sizing specially tailored to fit and flatter the Indian woman’s silhouette. We also have a small yet significant team of women leading Nylangan — Nisha Castellino as the Product Head; Aiswarya Ajit and Yamini Soni for fashion designing; Kavisa Almeida and Janet Babu for marketing and communications; and Apurva Tharwal and Parisha Chande for operations and digital marketing. Our brand is designed and developed as an ode to this passionate team of non-conformist women who are at the helm of Nylangan and yet prefer being the silent backbone of it, allowing our garments to speak about the conscious intent infused into our brand. Our collections are created to tell stories; of the craft, of the artiste, and of the individual who wears Nylangan. From brand conception, product design, creative vision to communicating the brand’s ethos, Nylangan is a brand defined as much by its creators as by
its customers.
Where do you see Nylangan Hindustan in five years?
Our aim for Nylangan is to grow it into a flagship brand in the natural clothing space; with a wide range of selections for women of all ages. Capsule collections are planned to be developed in close collaboration with master craftsmen, artisans, designers and boutique labels.
Where do you source your fabrics and workmanship from?
Nylangan’s fabrics are sourced from across India with a lot of effort put into garment construction and developing the fabric through individual finishing techniques ensuring impeccable quality. Our fabrics are developed and manufactured, based on the silhouettes and design requirements we work with for each of Nylangan’s collections. Depending on the form and function of the garments being crafted, specific fabric counts and softening processes are used, to create fluid fabrics that have incredible drapes and crisp cottons that create structured looks.
Will your collections/products cater to design aesthetics of the pan Indian?
On a day-to-day basis most individuals prefer easy-to-wear functional garments, to comfortably suit their daily lifescape from work wear, evening wear to occasion wear. Minimal aesthetics in garments are rare to find at an accessible price and at Nylangan we identified this gap in the market. Nylangan offers clothing that is classic, practical and beyond seasons with our design principles being inspired by minimalism. We use fresh thinking and technologies to adapt machine and market learnings, towards creating innovative consumer-centric products through multifunctional garments. Every customer has a mixed wardrobe that is put together with garments that suit particular occasions with dressing up being a very individual preference. All of Nylangan’s garments have progressive silhouettes, artisanal styles and pragmatic designs, with each piece being functional and effortless to wear. Our pieces have been created in a way that they hold a lot of character; with each style reflecting the Nylangan woman’s individual personality in the way she chooses to express it.
How do you plan on deepening the interest in artisanal indo-western clothes in the uninformed average customer?
The Nylangan woman, as we call our patrons — is a woman with a sense of individuality, a woman who finds comfort in what she wears while never compromising on style. She seeks fashion that can be truly hers, stays away from impulsive buying and sets her own trends. And this is the purpose we aimed to create through our brand. Awareness has led to a lot of stereotypes becoming obsolete, and hence we believe any customer who understands the nuances of Nylangan’s aesthetics, is our audience regardless of their age or demographics. We are constantly evolving to fit the needs of the evolved customer, who has moved away from fast fashion and wants to make a conscious choice driven by awareness. We are currently seeing a considerable shift in customer purchasing sensibilities, bringing more mindfulness to the way people shop in this current pandemic. There has been immense learning during this era defining period, and we are focused on our long term success with clear goals, about our positioning in the market as a sophisticated contemporary Indian wear fashion brand with accessible pocket-friendly products for an evolving audience. Our philosophy is to build a bond with our patrons based on trust, so they can connect with us and feel inspired every time they wear a piece from Nylangan.