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Rag can only say goodbye? Indian Entrepreneur Brings Hundreds of Fashion Brands to Turn Waste into Jewelry In an era when everyone pays attention to environmental protection, many businesses have begun to hope to have a relationship with the "circular economy", so that consumers can use their own products with more peace of mind. For the clothing industry, the rags generated in the manufacture of products have always been an inevitable waste. An Indian-born, British-educated entrepreneur saw the need and started a "rag company." Rags from his mother's workshop that inspired him to start a business Nish Parekh was born and raised in Mumbai, India. His mother was a fashion designer, so he was exposed to a lot of rags in his mother's studio since he was a child. In 2003, after completing his BA in Design and Applied Arts at LS Raheja College of Art, Mumbai, Nish decided to further his studies in the UK. So, he went to the University of the Arts London (University of the Arts London) to obtain a Bachelor of Marketing and Advertising. After graduating, Nish worked in advertising for two years before completing a Masters in Management and Creative Economy at Kingston University. While studying for his masters, Nish began to develop a deeper understanding of entrepreneurship. This, combined with his previous career in advertising, made him interested in building a brand from the ground up. After Nish completed his master's degree, he went back to Mumbai to visit family. In his mother's studio, he sees familiar rags again. Nish felt that it was too wasteful to just throw away the rags, so he asked a designer in the studio to work with him on how to "regenerate" the rags. Later, they turned the rag into a bookmark, and Nish suddenly realized he could turn this into a business. So, after returning to London, England, he used the name KAPDAA of his mother's studio, and then added "rags" (Offcut) to form KAPDAA – The Offcut Company (KAPDAA for short), and began to realize his entrepreneurial dream. (Same scene Gayon: This entrepreneur is also inspired by his mother! Please see: One thing has been done for more than ten years without improvement. Should I give up? His persistence has made his mother's recipe the most popular muffin in the United States Powder! ) Cooperate with brand manufacturers to turn waste into products The main business model of KAPDAA is to recycle the rags produced by brand manufacturers in the production process and process them into various products, including: bookmarks, hair accessories, tote bags, bags for yoga mats, wristbands, and even pet clothing . Although the business of selling these products on its own website is good, the main source of income of KAPDAA is to make various souvenirs for customers that pay attention to "environmental protection" brand factories. For example, after a fashion brand contacts KAPDAA, KAPDAA will send a "zero waste consultant" to understand the manufacturer's "rags" status, including their unused textiles, misprinted materials, unsold inventory, etc. . Then, based on the collected information, he will suggest what products manufacturers can turn the "rags" into. After the products are selected, the consultants will start to discuss how to "customize" these products so that they match the brand and image of the manufacturer. After that, the manufacturer's rags will be collected and sent to KAPDAA's office in London, and KAPDAA's designers will start designing products according to the manufacturer's needs. After designing products to the satisfaction of manufacturers, KAPDAA will start to manufacture these products. In order to implement "environmental protection", KAPDAA also ensures that every step of the production process is "sustainable". For example, natural glue is used, recycled paper is used, natural inks are used for printing, and product packaging is biodegradable. Finally, KAPDAA will also use "electric trucks" to send the finished product back to the manufacturer, which is really the ultimate in environmental protection. After receiving the products, manufacturers can sell them in the store, but more manufacturers choose to give them as gifts to customers who have consumption. The survey shows that 25% of consumers must consider "sustainability" when shopping. Therefore, these gifts made of "rags" can allow manufacturers to show that they care about the environment. (Same scene added: KAPDAA cooperates with brand factories to promote environmental protection, but this newly created partner is a mobile phone refurbishment factory! Please see: Help mobile phones find a second life! This French e-commerce and refurbishment factory cooperate to make "refurbishment" "New machine" has become a money-saving trick for consumers during the epidemic ) While taking care of local craftsmen, we must also avoid "single point of failure" In addition to ensuring that it is "sustainable", Nish also hopes that KAPDAA can contribute to his hometown. Therefore, he made good use of the advantages of India's relatively low labor force, and cooperated with local craftsmen, asking them to hand-craft and check the quality of each product. In order to ensure that both parties can benefit from the cooperation, KAPDAA also provides them with fair trade employment opportunities, which is to use a series of rules to ensure that producers receive fair remuneration and laborers obtain due rights. And this is one of the "sustainability" that Nish pursues. But finding the right artisans isn't easy, so from its inception in 2015 until 2018, Nish worked with only one studio, producing all of KAPDAA's products. But something happened during the Christmas period of 2018 that made Nish actively re-layout and cooperate with "suppliers". Christmas is a big holiday in the West, and people will go crazy shopping during that time. KAPDAA's products make good gifts, so it would have done better business during this period than at other times. But what Nish didn't expect was that the craftsmen he worked with didn't expect to produce so many products in such a short period of time.
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