Cut To Change

At MARGN, clothing is a mutable entity. Helmed by designer Saurabh Maurya, the fashion label transforms the most essential components of menswear—shirts, tees, trousers and outerwear—with interventions in cuts, textures and a clever mix of handmade crafts with technical precision. Puffers are hand-knitted and suits are quilted, the vest is reimagined as a lightweight tie-up, shirts are asymmetrically cut or tailored to recall the fluidity of kaftans. Muted colour palettes are elevated with appliqué, embroidery, hand-wrinkling and knitted details. Knitting, in particular, has emerged as an enduring signature for MARGN, rooted in a long-term relationship with women artisans in Himachal Pradesh who co-create the complex designs with Maurya and his team.

The label’s intersectional approach to crafts preservation and community development, combined with Maurya’s design talent has won MARGN a number of accolades. In 2024, the label found a spot at Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI’s GenNext programme; later in the year Maurya won the first edition of The Himalayan Knot Design Prize by Royal Enfield Social Mission and Vogue India. On October 14, Maurya found himself on the winner’s podium again, taking home this year’s R|Elan Circular Design Challenge (RCDC) trophy in a ceremony that marked the start of the latest edition of Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI. It’s a joyful and overwhelming moment for Maurya but his mind soon turned back to his practice.

“Winning is also a responsibility—we are telling a story and, as the jury also told me, we must continue our values and never forget the people we work with,” he tells Open. “From making products to implementing the processes, we must understand and do everything consciously. It’s a bit of heavy lifting.”

Maurya readily notes that MARGN wasn’t envisioned as a circularity-based business. “It was always crafts-based,” he says. But his travels and work with communities, especially in the Himalayan region, turned his attention to the environmental impact. “Through my journey, I started seeing the growing problem of waste, be it through tourism or paragliding or other ways. Everything was connected and it was destroying an eco-sensitive region,” he adds. The label’s handmade designs, use of natural materials as well as deadstock and recycled materials, and long-term engagement with crafts communities to create garments that score on both aesthetics and mindfulness made MARGN one of the strongest contenders at the awards.

Launched in 2018, the Circular Design Challenge has become a fixture in Lakmé Fashion Week x FDCI’s bi-annual calendar. The platform aims to discover and promote entrepreneurs, designers and innovators working in the area of circular fashion and innovative solutions. The final round of the challenge is hosted at LFW x FDCI with the winner receiving an opportunity to showcase their collection at the following season of the fashion week. The challenge began as a platform for homegrown talent but has expanded internationally in recent seasons.

This year, for instance, months of jury rounds for participants from the UK, Europe and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region apart from India culminated in a show featuring seven finalists. Apart from MARGN, Indian finalists included Duja, which repairs and reworks sports jerseys as well as other textiles and materials into youthful garments, and designer Saloni Jhaveri, whose design practice also uses discarded textiles and zero-waste design methods. Botto Lab, a biotech materials company, show cased its proprietary offering Bequin— biodegradable sequins made using marine biopolymers and cellulose from pre-consumer textile waste.

Among international finalists, RWRK STUDIO, a London-based design studio by Farouk Braimoh, arrived with a collection that incorporated discarded towels and linen from hotels, gyms and spas. From the APAC and beyond, Byo—an experimental accessories label by Indonesian industrial designer Tommy Ambiyo Tedji—showed a line made using leather offcuts.

From the European round of the challenge, hosted in Paris this July on the eve of Paris Haute Couture Week, Anil Padia brought his label Yoshita 1967 to the Indian runway. Padia, a Kenyan designer of Indian ancestry, has been on a winning streak with his recent triumph at the 2026 LVMH Prize where he won the Savoir-Faire Prize. His glamorous collection seemed tailormade for nights out—mini dresses, form-fitting separates, sheer designs and tights crafted from cotton threads and recycled glass mirror served as embellishments as well as ghungroos that seemed to sing as the models walked down the ramp. The brand took home the runner-up prize at RCDC.

The two winning brands have been conceptualised worlds apart. MARGN is based in Delhi, while Padia runs Yoshita 1967 between Paris and Nairobi. Yet, a shared vision and design ethos stitches them together. First, there is India—resonating across everything MARGN makes but also echoing in the ghungroos and gleaming in the mirrorwork of Yoshita. The designs are an expression of handmade crafts—Maurya leans into hand-knitting and Padia spotlights Kenyan crochet traditions—which have historically been seen as homely activities and hobbies pursued by them rather than bona fide craft practices.

Their designs are crafted with eco-conscious and circular ideals in mind. And, most of all, both labels inherently understand that fashion must be desirable.

Kering Backs Indian Fashion Innovators

In a new launchpad for homegrown designers, luxury conglomerate Kering has brought its Kering Generation Award to India partnering with Reliance Brands Limited. Kering, whose portfolio of brands includes the likes of Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, runs the programme in many countries to identify emerging circular fashion businesses and innovators. A Blunt Story by Chandni Batra took home the third prize for its innovative footwear incorporating proprietary plant-based soles and eco-friendly parts. In second place was Anish Malpani’s label Without that transforms multi-layer plastic packaging and discarded textiles into eyewear and packaging. The main prize went to Paiwand Studio, founded by designer Ashita Singhal, which reweaves discarded fabrics and other materials into new textiles. Apart from the Paiwand Studio label, Singhal also helms a B2B model collaborating with designer, brands and export houses to upcycle their waste. The awards were announced ahead of the Circular Design Challenge on the same evening.