Pune startup Ashaya wins Lakme Fashion Week design challenge

Ashaya recycles multi-layered plastics into high-quality materials and products and its brand ‘Without’ has already launched a brand of sunglasses made from packets of chips.

Ashaya’s business model entails end-to-end circularity with waste pickers being part of the manufacturing process and the Lakme Fashion Week. (Express photo)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Pune-based startup Ashaya won the Lakme Fashion Week’s Circular Design Challenge and founder Anish Malpani is beyond thrilled. “I had already told my team that our reaching the final was an achievement in itself. We will now expand our work and scale up our operations,” says Malpani.

Ashaya recycles multi-layered plastics into high-quality materials and products and its brand ‘Without’ has already launched a brand of sunglasses made from packets of chips. For the fashion week, Malpani says, they had to come up with a new range of sunglasses as well as accessories like rings, necklaces and pendants.

“Normally, it takes around six months from conception to designing but our team of in-house designers, Shreyas Kulthe and Mohammad Rizwan, managed it in two months,” he says. Malpani and his team also had help from Pune-based designer Karishma Shahani-Khan.

Story continues below this ad

Ashaya founder Anish Malpani (Express photo)

Multi-layered plastic is the bugbear in the world of plastics, given the difficulties it presents in recycling. Used mostly in food packaging, its contamination and usage of various materials make it almost impossible to recycle. Ashaya has managed to come up with a solution that allows the extraction of high-quality material which can then be used to make objects. The startup has raised a round of pre-seed funding and is in the process of upscaling its production.

Ashaya’s business model entails end-to-end circularity with waste pickers being part of the manufacturing process and the Lakme Fashion Week and its emphasis on ‘circular fashion’ makes it a perfect platform for the startup to showcase its products.

The Circular Design Challenge looks at circularity as the key design component and waste as a resource. This challenge is in collaboration with R| Elan and the United Nations in India. The first prize is Rs 15 lakh.

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Tags:
pune

Loading Taboola...

SP leader Azam Khan walks out of jail after 23 months, hundreds of supporters welcome him

Cities24 min ago

Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, who is facing multiple cases, walked out of the Sitapur jail today after 23 months. He was scheduled to be released early Tuesday morning, but it was delayed due to impending court proceedings. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the Sitapur jail, waiting for the SP leader to walk out of prison.

View all shorts

Live Blog