Sustainable St. John's designer is fighting fast fashion, one dress at a time
Sewnology's Shweta Mohan says every dress is made for a customer and uses non-chemical dyes
A Newfoundland and Labrador fashion company that got its start halfway across the world is fighting fast fashion through sustainability, says its founder.
Shweta Mohan started her made-to-order clothing company Sewnology four years ago while living in India and has since relocated to St. John's.
"Every dress tells a story because every dress is made to the body type and the body preferences of the customers," she told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.
Mohan said making custom ordered clothing was an ethical decision, pointing to the fashion industry's sustainability and ethical problems. It's known as "fast fashion," she said. Companies over-produce items, which creates pollution and depleting water resources. She items those companies don't sell end up in landfills.
Mohan says she doesn't use chemicals to dye her fabric and since every dress is made specifically for a customer, she's not mass producing them.
The pre-designed dresses typically cost between $70 to $80.
How it's made
When working on a new piece of clothing, Mohan says she starts with selecting the fabrics, which are handcrafted. From there, and with the client's measurement, it gets stitched together.
She has a stitcher and embroiderer based in India, who she calls her "two pillars."
"I would say that I have been a one-man army because when I started I used to handle everything by myself, the marketing, the production designing, everything," said Mohan.
In 2021, Mohan was living in India and working as a robotics process automation developer for Ernst & Young, though she always had a love of fashion, she said.
"I have always liked to style myself and customize my own dresses. Also, I used to give fashion advice to my friends and family," she said.
She says there were also times when she would go shopping only to be disappointed with the apparels she would find and wonder why it wasn't available with a certain type of sleeve, neck design or dress length.
"That's how I started thinking, 'Oh yeah, I should start my own clothing brand.' So I started off my own research for a year or so," she said.
Mohan says set out to understand how the fashion industry worked, as well as fashion illustration and design. She began chasing her passion in March 2021, but it took a global pandemic to give her the push.
In 2022, Mohan came to Newfoundland and Labrador to pursue a two-year masters degree in business administration at Memorial University. She brought Sewnology with her.
"I always wanted to learn more about the business strategies and the marketing to help my clothing brand," she said.
But Sewnology is a side-job for Mohan. She works for Suncor Energy, but says she's open to the possibility of Sewnology becoming a full-time gig.
"Once I get great reach, I would definitely consider that," she said.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The St. John’s Morning Show