Ahluwalia

Young London-born designer of Nigerian-Indian heritage Priya Ahluwalia is challenging the fashion industry with her eco-conscious ready-to-wear label Ahluwalia. An extension of her University of Westminster MA project, Ahluwalia was established in 2018 with the intention of creating garments out of deadstock fabrics and second-hand clothing. Quickly gaining industry-wide recognition and landing the 2019 H&M Design Award, Ahluwalia is representative of a new generation of designers seeking to challenge the status quo by engaging ever-more sustainable approaches to garment manufacturing. Both her mixed cultural heritage and love for everything '90s play a large role in Ahluwalia’s aesthetic and design processes—much of her inspiration stems from childhood memories of clothing worn by family members. Permeated by an air of nostalgia, Ahluwalia is an amalgamation of sportswear, knitwear, and tailoring. Sourced from vintage materials, each piece in the collection is unique: lounge pants, shorts, sweatshirts, and polos are paneled together, and feature mismatched fabrics and juxtaposing pattern combinations. By giving unwanted, discarded, and forgotten items a second life, Ahluwalia reveals the potential for the fashion industry to move towards a more responsible future, one where sustainability, innovation, and design can coexist.