DENIM PROJECT 2022

Like every year, Fashion Design students of Indian Institute of art & design (IIAD) participated in the Denim Project  2022. 

The Denim Project is about spreading awareness of the fabric and learning traditional methods of hand spinning and weaving. 

In the Denim Project module, students explored Khadi denim from spinning to dying and finally to the various washes and finishes. Students were primarily introduced to cotton and various species of it. Cotton grown as agricultural crops are native to most subtropical parts of the world.The cotton fibre is converted into cotton yarn using handspinning and is finally woven to cotton fabric on a handloom. Students were asked to handspun yarn from cotton through handspinning  and were provided “Peti Charkha”. Peti Charkha is an efficient, portable hand-cranked wheel model that is ideally used for spinning cotton and other fibres. Back in history, Peti Charkha also became a symbol of freedom. A Khadi workshop was led by Sachin Sachar, an exhibition designer by profession. Sachin Sachar is a design practitioner involved with Exhibitions, Installations, Museums and various other thematic design domains. Students first learned to handspin cotton with the use of a small spindle and Peti charkha. Each student handspun and produced 1000 metres of yarn for their own project.

 After learning the art of spinning students step further to yarn dyeing through traditional processes. The yarns are dyed before the fabric is really processed further to the manufacturing stage. Students used package dyeing method to dye yarns for further weaving. Students used indigo to dye the warp threads blue, but left the weft threads in their natural white colour. The process gave the fabric a unique blue colour on one side, with light blue on the other. 

To understand and observe the ageing of denim, students were asked to stitch a pair of denim for factory workers. Students were then introduced to the weaving community and were provided with various sessions about the manufacturing processes, production management to understand the social as well as economic aspect of Denim. 

IIAD has always been an advocate of experiential learning and sustainable practices. The institute provides an opportunity to Fashion Design students to participate in the Denim Project every year. Denim being one of the most polluting fabrics due to excessive water consumption in its manufacturing and also supporting the fact of it being durable calls for upcycling and revamping of the fabric. Recycled Denim were translated into jackets by the students which were then put up in an exhibition on the IIAD campus where they had the privilege of showcasing their work to renowned designers from the industry.