Mumbai, Feb. 6 -- He chose to move away from the vortex of the fashion system and go the bespoke way. Showcasing at Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2019 after a span of three years and reintroducing womenswear, lifestyle designer Raghavendra Rathore's designs are still not derivative of what is happening in the world, but it is about what the customer wants 'when they walk into the store." For Rathore, who has been working with artisans and weavers from across India, sustainability is all about empowering communities deprived of privileges. "I work with handmade fabrics. The idea of sustainable fashion, to me, is to work with specialists who create the fabrics. A lot of the embroidery is handcrafted by women. So, instead of having weavers working all night in your company, we have a foundation, who find these homes, and clean it up for the artisans. We give them [women] the ability to sustain their family by guaranteeing a month's work and Rs5000 rupees," says Rathore. Rathore completes 25 years in the industry this year. When asked what changes he'd like to see in the future, he says, "Recently, the Government of India sent us a survey enquiring about the problems we face, and I said, you keep sending us surveys, instead, we need efficient people who are born on this earth to do something good. We do have a system, but there will always be rot in it," Rathore adds, "If a designer is working with a middleman who is supposed to deliver for the spring collection, it comes three or four months late and that gets wasted. Hence, a lot of young designers simply can't plug in. We can sustain it because we are a bespoke brand, but a new designer, who is really making an effort, needs a fast turnaround. Hence, the middleman needs to be efficient."...