EPISODE 5 - Kavitha from ISIFISO CLOTHING
Isifiso means "destiny" or choice, and it is the main driver for Kavitha and her business. Her ethos as a business, and as a humans, is that we hold our destiny in our hands and that is why she has taken charge on trying to make a difference with her creativity and her love for dressmaking.
Kavitha joined the Series through a call I made in one of the Women Local Entrepreneur Facebook Groups that I am part of. There were lots of people asking me to join, but Kavitha's passion and distinct approach to her product making grasped me.
And well, if you have been able to see or catch up yesterday in our chat you can see why she is a natural leader.
Yesterday she opened her journey to us. From her origins in India, to her adventure coming to the UK and then falling in love with London.
How her dreams got side tracked; as her dream was to be a fashion designer, and how she ended up working in IT and in a country that wasn't hers.
How sewing and creativity helped her overcome her post natal depression and how this reassured that the foundations for her business had to be in her love for sewing and her passion to make a difference to the environment in every step she took.
Check her Ethos page in her website to see how her sustainable approach to business, stretches from the creation of her products to her waste management and packaging.
And she walks the walk too. Yesterday she provided so many tricks to be more eco conscious. Tricks we can all use in our day to day. From the Acorn trick to wash our clothes, to the concoction she uses to make her own glass cleaner.
And when her family approach Christmas or Diwali conscious sustainability is there all the way. Second hand presents seems to be the way to go for the Isifiso family, and she showed us yesterday, how that can perfectly work too.
I now leave you with Kavitha from Isifiso Clothing
Isifiso was born out of my passion for 2 things - dressmaking and my worry for the environment.
We as a family have always been very eco conscious and it's partly because I was raised in India where we pray to Mother Earth and all the 5 elements of nature and partly because of my husband's work within Fair Trade and Housing for the poor communities in developing countries.
We have always been keen recyclers and re-use everything we could, but being keen turned slightly more obsessive when XR did the first Climate Strike Action 2 years ago.
It opened our eyes to the lengths people will go to to protect the environment and we found our measures lacking. So we have stepped up a notch. Now my husband is an environmental activist and works with the council on a voluntary basis and runs his own sustainability community group locally and I have created the basis with sustainability as it's core.
I cannot do it any other way as it won't sit right any other way.
With the dressmaking, I have been sewing since I was 12 and I find sewing therapeutic and invigorating. I used to mainly sew for myself and my kids, but this hobby turned into a business when a friend asked me to share her market stall space with her.
I went online and set up my ETSY stall the very next day. But took me a year from them to set it up as a business. Now I am an incubatee on a Female Entrepreneurship programme and trying to formalise the business.
With a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, 2021 will be glorious! Fingers crossed.
Thank you
Kavitha
Isifiso Clothing's shop and social media links.
THE SUSTAINABLE 2020 CHRISTMAS IG LIVE Episode 4 for you to check