His father was a truck driver, who came from Churu, a small town in Rajasthan, which is the hottest place in India. The first 10 years he lived without electricity for more than six hours a day. The family moved to Dubai looking for a better life. Both his parents have studied only till class 10, but Rishabh Kumar studied till high school. This did not make a ‘Farak’ as his label proclaims, while he adds deeper meaning into tees, combining handloom, block prints with streetwear.

At 26, he admits his father’s “constant survival mode” taught him everything. “I used to see YouTube videos of how to pronounce French designer brands. I wanted to launch an Indian brand that will be on a par with them,” says Kumar adding, “I didn’t choose sustainability, it chose me.” As he was a national level athlete, he had to settle in his home state, Jaipur, to pursue sports. He began working with Padmashri award-winning artisans, offering value through these age-old techniques which haven’t lost their vigor.

“I had to drop out of college due to financial problems, but when I came to Jaipur, I found so many gems, Bagru, Dabu to Sanganer (adda work) and the finest cotton. I wanted Gen Z to wear these, so I reinterpreted it uniquely through streetwear,” he explains.

He found National Awardee Pankaj Sonawa, and Dhanopia family of Sanganer, Rajasthan, Santosh Kumar Dhanopia, National Award winner 2005 for his work in hand block printing; his family practiced this craft for five generations. “I visited the weaver centre at Sodala, met artisans, they all wanted to make bedsheets, when I decided to launch my brand in 2021. Sonawa showed us 200 to 300 year old blocks, I sifted through them, took a boota from here, a paisley from another combined different elements, and created a new composition,” he adds.

He introduced stencil block prints using Bagru or mud techniques, combined this with spray paints, and used the achada (achada is the back grey cloth used while printing on tables, between the printed material and table lining. During printing, it leaves marks, through the fabric being printed, to the achada, covering it with pigment. Each achada is a visual story, narrating designs that were printed on table), we replicated the disarray of paint on it. “Now we have artisans asking us for an extra tee to print naturally, as they have a new idea of design,” he adds, saying he loved the achada; it has a distinct flavour and was often discarded, but actually it is a storyteller in itself.

Though the problem with Gen Z is they are “followers”, and want to be a part of a community with “everyone’s wearing so I will also wear” ideology, “launching a brand is easy, running it is difficult,” he laughs.

This year, his collection is inspired by Terracotta, “Alchemy of life” the Multani mitti, formed a basis on how when we take red mud, heat it, it turns brown, a metamorphosis of sorts, create streetwear using Kala cotton and handmade fabrics. “Lots of fabrics are wasted as they are not the right colour, or small defects rejected by exporters, we buy and recycle it,” he adds, as he is looking forward to his collaboration with Comet shoes in November.

Like Patagonia, he offers “repair and restore” with every garment that a customer buys, “I want to leave a legacy, make a unique identity with block print tees and hoodies. My dad told me when I took up cricket, this is ‘past time’, just like when I told him I wanted to work in fashion, though my first luxury purchase was a Zara shirt,” he smiles. You see hints of his life in a village represented through his styling, the lehenga-blouse girls wore, or how they plaited their hair neatly, carrying matkas. “The trench coat is inspired by the angarakha, has volume, and the blazer from the blouse I saw village girls wearing, crafting a new language,” he concludes. – Asmita is the Lifestyle Editor of NRI Focus. She is an award winning journalist who has been writing on fashion for the last 32 years