Ahimsa: Sustainable Yoga Wear (Clothing, Brand, Photography)

As a digital creative, I spend a good chunk of my time designing for and looking at screens and devices - more time than I’d like to admit. I set out on a project that was more hands-on, a tangible product, and working within a completely different medium than what I’ve been used to for the past decade.

ahimsa started as a COVID project, because I was frustrated by the lack of choice in a truly sustainable yoga wear brand – from design, production and philanthropy. Many well-known brands tout sustainable pieces or collections, but the organisation itself does not holistically embody a mission for a greener company and/or production loop.

ahimsa is a sustainable yoga wear brand made of recycled fabrics from plastic waste, ethically hand-crafted in small batches in Vietnam, and a portion of proceeds benefiting organisations that do good for the planet – earth inspired, female empowered.

As a sustainable brand, colours were naturally inspired by planet Earth herself, to create a memorable brand identity and visual guideline for the capsule collection.

In collaboration with Lorena Chan, we crafted a visual language and a series of illustrations that matches the brand’s mantra – earth inspired, female empowered

While I did not have a background in fashion, I knew in my mind of how the pieces could look, with a modern, yet classic style. In the first phase, I worked with a professional fashion designer to help with the technical pack drawings to hand over to a clothing factory in Vietnam. From there, I worked directly with the studio manager to get through the remaining two rounds of sample production to create a collection that I was satisfied with.

I worked closely with Hong Kong based photographer, Cammie, and model, Nikki Wong, on teaser imagery for the capsule collection – based on initial art direction and inspiration provided.