We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shagun Sharma. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shagun below.
Shagun, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Thank you for asking me this important question. Our three fundamental principles that are the driving forces behind Naytra Couture were not preconceived, in fact I fell upon them as I was conceptualizing Naytra. At Naytra, we create 100% pure mulberry silk tunics, tops, blouses, and scarves based on artwork created by folk artisans dedicated to keeping the 2500-year-old folk art of Madhubani (meaning “a forest of honey”) alive. Madhubani painting is where we start at Naytra Couture. Our first principle of Women Supporting Women and supporting the female artisans begins here.
1. Women supporting women: Supporting female artisans and their communities.
We work directly with female folk artists living in remote Indian villages. The artwork they create is mesmerizing. Our goal is to eliminate all the go-betweens and work with these artisans directly, make sure they are being paid a fair wage for their artwork and support them and their communities.
The second principle of sustainability stems from being in the Fashion industry and the knowledge that this industry is one of the most polluting industries in the face of our mother earth. We decided to take responsibility and be as environmentally friendly as possible and to the best of our ability, and this became our second fundamental principle.
2. Sustainability: Taking Care of Mother Earth
We have adopted an absolutely no plastic policy and have eliminated all plastic and polythene bags. We use only decomposable zip lock bags to transport our product. We have instructed our manufacturing partners to ship 7-10 pieces per bag, thereby cutting the consumption of bags 7-10 times as otherwise the ratio is 1:1. Additionally, all the packaging materials used, namely our boxes, tags, and tissue papers, are eco-friendly and made from recycled paper. We have also designed unique cotton bags for our customers with each product sold.
We use only 100% pure mulberry silk for our products. We hope that this silk garment will stay in our customer’s closets for times to come hence promoting slow and conscious fashion. Furthermore, we only work with manufacturing partners that are Standard 100 OEKO-TEX certified. This certification ensures that no harmful chemicals are used for printing and that everything used is environmentally friendly.
Naytra Couture’s third and final fundamental principle is donating eyesight to underserved communities. We support the Seva Foundation in California and donate eyesight for every piece sold. Seva’s mantra resonated with my personal belief that our eyes are the windows to our soul, and our eyes reflect our feelings and connect us to the outside world.
3. The Gift of Eyesight: Fighting the fight to eliminate curable blindness
It’s in the name! Naytra means eyes in Hindi and Sanskrit. Like Naytra, Seva is a small Sanskrit world with a big meaning! Seva means selfless service to others. “Sight = Freedom” . Not only do Seva’s initiatives restore eyesight, but they also indirectly empower women and children to get educated and break the cycle of poverty.
We at Naytra Couture aspire to work towards the goal of curing blindness. Every time anyone purchases from Naytra, we donate a portion of our proceeds to the Seva Foundation. We would like to make the world a more “seeable” place!
To that end, we always say, “what begins with Naytra (Madhubani painting with big, bold, beautiful eyes), ends with Naytra (“eyes” – donating eyesight).”
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Naytra Couture’s Wearable Folk Art: Empowering women artisans, protecting the environment, and restoring eyesight
Most people have heard of fast fashion and its adverse effects on our environment. Creator and Founder Shagun Sharma of Naytra Couture share her thoughts on how her female-owned and operated brand has successfully promoted slow fashion by being sustainable and creating 100% pure mulberry silk keepsake pieces while supporting the artisans and donating the gift of eyesight.
Naytra is a brand that creates a unique experience that combines art and fashion to bring you an exclusive collection of one-of-a-kind wearable art with 100% pure mulberry silk tunics, tops, and scarves. Our exclusive collection is based on artwork created by folk artisans dedicated to keeping the ancient folk art of Madhubani (meaning a “forest of honey”) alive.
Naytra is a female-founded, female-run business that supports female artisans while creating keepsake pieces that will stay in your closet for generations.
Naytra means “eyes” in both Hindi and Sanskrit. My fascination with eyes began when I was at NIFT, and I was introduced to Madhubani paintings while taking a course called “The Influence of Ancient Indian Art on culture, textiles, apparel, and fashion.” Madhubani is a folk art practiced by women in rural villages of India’s Mithila and Madhubani regions. This practice goes back centuries — 2,500 years, to be precise. In the olden days, the women in these villages would paint the homes and buildings in town during festivals and special occasions. They would create these breathtaking masterpieces using dyes from plants and vegetables in their gardens, and suddenly these tiny villages would come alive.
Aside from the intricacy of the designs and the vivid colors, I have always been fascinated and intrigued by how the eyes are emphasized in these paintings. All animal life is depicted with big, bold, striking eyes. These eyes always resonated with me as I believed then, as I still do now, in Shakespeare’s words, that one’s “eyes are the windows to the soul.” Our eyes are a window to our inner world —our feelings, thoughts, and views of the universe.
All through my journey, as I was going through the ebbs and flows of life, Naytra was always living in my head. I knew that I would bring it to life and share these beautiful paintings with the world by bringing them to life.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I grew up in a family of four in India — it was me, my mom, my dad, and my younger sister. We were a very close-knit family, but I always had an incredibly close relationship with my dad. He greatly influenced me, and I know that I am where I am today only because of him. For Instance, I always thought I would pursue something technical after college, and I had studied math during my undergrad and thought the next logical step was getting an MBA. My dad, however, never believed in being limited to one path. When he visited the National Institute of Technology (NIFT) in Delhi, he knew I would fall in love before I had even seen it myself – math degree or not. And he was right.
Then life happened. I met my husband Sanjeev, we got married, and our daughter Diva was born. We moved to Canada in 2001, and that’s when we met our son Neil in 2002. Then, I got my MBA Degree in Toronto like I always thought I would, focusing on marketing and business strategy. From there, I went on to work for companies like Hallmark, and Walmart Canada, eventually moving to TJX Companies outside of Boston. I quit my job in 2015 to spend time with my kids before they left Boston. Now that my son Neil has left the nest and gone to college, my husband Sanjeev encouraged me to follow my dream. Hence the birth of Naytra.
As I mentioned, I never thought I would have a career in the fashion apparel industry. In fact, I remember my mom not being thrilled when I took the detour into this direction rather than pursuing a technical career. With my dad’s encouragement, I joined NIFT, New Delhi, and was introduced to this industry.
Started my career as Assistant Manager in a manufacturing facility. I had a fantastic experience and met so many interesting people along the way. Being in apparel manufacturing taught me so many life lessons that I am so thankful for, as these learnings have helped me all along the way.
For Instance, I was a newly minted Assistant Production Manager at the start of my career, and my manager was an old and highly experienced gentleman who taught me invaluable lessons I will never forget. One of these lessons was never accepting “no” as an answer. I learned that it is elementary for people to say no when asking them to do something. My manager taught me to challenge that “no” — to work, fight, and grind until I got what I wanted. It’s always an unnerving process, but it is the best advice I have ever gotten – never to accept “no” as an answer.
I started my career in the manufacturing industry. I was managing the shop floor with 1000 machines and approximately 1500 operators. These were big apparel manufacturing facilities, and we would have challenging targets to achieve every day as we would always be playing catch-up on the production floor. I learned very quickly that the assembly lines and the operators were not working for the factory, but as their leader, they were always looking up to me and would be working in a way for me, and my motivating them really mattered. I would give small incentives to my assembly line operators (and these I would do personally for them) and create healthy competition between different production lines. We would all win in the end; the message was always a win-win, not a zero-sum situation. I learned that positivity takes you far, invokes strong positive feelings in people too, and gets reciprocated fast. Invaluable lesson learned.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
There are two things that I firmly believe in. First – “being lucky is not a coincidence – it happens when your hard work meets the opportunity.” The second most important thing I believe in is “how to get things done rather than why they can’t be done.” These have been my two mantras since the conception to implementation of Naytra Couture, and these still give me the strength to keep moving on despite setbacks and challenges.
For Instance, I was supposed to launch Naytra in May / June of 2020. However, Covid happened and the US in March when everything shut down. My initial reaction was that I had panic attacks as I was going 100 Mph getting things together, and suddenly, everything came to a grinding halt. However, when I was forced to take time off, I realized that I was thankful for the opportunity, and now I could take a breath and think about everything calmly and more composedly. I also got the time to consolidate and develop a strategy to launch. I had too much going all at once, and now I could break down the steps and make them bite-size and more palatable. Naytra Couture was launched in January 2021. Since we are a startup, we have been dealing with our own set of challenges trying to hit the ground running. However, I strongly feel that these challenges and problems have worked as opportunities as they have given us breathing space to take our time, get stronger, and set to go. I have learned, am learning, and will continue to learn so many different things during this journey. I also know that I have always looked at how to make things work during this time rather than not.
“You should never take more than you give – in the circle of life.”
I must tell you a story before we move on. Every morning, I walk with my Siberian Husky puppy for about an hour and a half. That’s Ryder and my time – I often listen to podcasts or books or listen to music. So, about three years ago – I was listening to Circle of Life from the Lion King – I have heard that song a million times and absolutely love it! However, that day I somehow focused on the lyrics, and a beautiful line caught my attention – In the Circle of life – you can never take more than you give – in the Circle of life!! This is the sentiment that is the driving force behind Naytra!
Our brand and business are based on three pillars we are deeply passionate about – women supporting women, sustainability, and giving the gift of eyesight.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://naytracouture.com
- Instagram: @naytracouture
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NaytraCouture
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/naytra-couture/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsM_qNV16cEteEoMC8967Q
Image Credits
Cara Soulia Photography Mind on Photography John Harmon