New Delhi, Delhi, India:  National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) is organizing an International Conference: ‘Rediscovering Culture: Transforming Fashion’, with the aim of initiating a conversation on fashion, culture, textiles, crafts and sustainability. 

At the conference to be held from 31^st January to 2^nd February, 2018, at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, leading global voices who will be heard include: Kate Fletcher, Research Professor, Centre For Sustainable Fashion, London College of Fashion; David Abraham, Creative Director, Abraham & Thakore; Narendra Kumar, Creative Director, Amazon India; Radha Chadha, writer and luxury brand expert; amongst others. The conference will be flagged off on 31^st January, 2018 with a fashion show, at Crafts Museum in Pragati Maidan, featuring the works of celebrated designers who are NIFT alumni.

Ms. Sarada Muraleedharan, Director General, NIFT says, “NIFT has been working with both ends of the fashion spectrum - the legacy of centuries of honed knowledge on crafts and textiles on the one hand, and modern design consciousness and global trends on the other, and believes that this is a seamless continuum of knowledge, practice and sensibility, where each end can be enhanced through understanding and interface with the other.”

Some of the leading designers who will be showcasing their work at the inaugural event through a fashion show include Manish Arora, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Suket Dhir, Sanjay Garg, Sunita Shanker, Swati Kalsi, Payal Pratap, Pratima Pandey, to name a few. There will be technical sessions on 14 sub-themes of the conference, in addition to design journeys consisting of interactive sessions of experience sharing and reminiscences with designers such as Manish Arora, Renuka Reddy, Swati Kalsi and Shani Himanshu. Craft tours, a craft marketplace, cultural evening and craft demonstrations will be the other highlights of the three day conference that tries to re-establish current fashion to their roots of origin. It is envisaged that the forum will initiate trans-global cultural narratives that impact and are, in turn, impacted by issues and concerns, innovations, challenges encountered and solutions formulated by the fashion industry.

The world in recent times has witnessed a subtle shift in the focus of fashion from business considerations to a more responsible attitude towards sustainability concerns. Slow design, green production processes, waste generation and disposal systems, management of end-to-end solutions and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives with mindfulness towards ecological fragility are being incorporated by the design community and the industry.