Community, collaboration, craft— this homegrown brand does not believe in boundaries

Kanika Karvinkop’s No Borders is a case study in an undistilled vision for the future of fashion

Sometime in late 2018, in the quiet lanes of Mumbai’s 18th-century gaothan Khotachiwadi, Kanika Karvinkop, former stylist-turned-entrepreneur, launched No Borders. A vintage and thrift shop, it was  tucked away atop veteran designer and heritage activist James Ferreira’s 200-year-old bungalow. 

A respite from the city's—and fashion’s—fast pace, No Borders offered clothes and bric-a-brac from another time. For the opening, Mumbai’s well-heeled came to witness, wear and covet vintage pieces from around the world (a Dior borrowed-from-the-boys jacket from the '80s and Alexander Wang's black canvas mini dress circa 2000, for instance) mixed with collections by Indian designers like International Woolmark Prize winner Ruchika Sachdeva of Bodice; Ekà; and Péro by Aneeth Arora. But beyond the hand-me-down luxury staples, Karvinkop managed to get her hands on collections by up-and-coming  designers from Morocco, Ghana, Peru and Puerto Rico as well as art works by emerging names like Ayqa Khan and Negine Jasmine. 

This criss-crossing of countries, and curating what only her stylist eye could spot and source from far corners of India and the world, formed the blueprint of Karvinkop’s new fashion business. Off-key and unlikely, she called the space and the clothes it housed, "a complete misfit in the 21st century, but in a good way." What seemed like a simple passion project was, in reality, Karvinkop catching a global wave in the fashion industry. According to a recent thredUP report, the global second-hand apparel market is expected to grow 127 per cent  by 2026, three times faster than the apparel market overall. Themes and trends that are only becoming clearer now were the foundation of what made Karvinkop turn away from being a stylist to a creative and small-business owner. 

Pivoting towards change

“I started No Borders when I saw a lack of representation of South Asian designers and creatives in the global fashion industry. Some of the early goals were to grow brand recognition globally for under-represented designers and creatives, to promote sustainable vintage-shopping in India where the retail landscape is split between the extremes of luxury and fast fashion, and lastly to create a platform for facilitating global cultural exchange figuratively dissolving borders—a key value that gave birth to the shop’s name,” she explains.

When the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Karvinkop had to take a backseat from the events she had so carefully cultivated, and eventually shut down her space in Khotachiwadi. However, since starting out in 2017, she had already managed to build a ‘No Borders community’ around the world that had bought into her vision.

Seema Hari—a US-based non-binary engineer, model and DJ, whom Karvinkop crossed paths with in 2019—became her co-conspirator to build and launch No Borders Shop as an online marketplace. Think of it as an Etsy for those leaning towards sustainable design. “We bonded over our love for vintage fashion and sustainability. Seema had stopped buying new clothes for a few years as an experiment to check on her consumerism, but knew deeply that individual boycotts were not the solution and would never be enough to solve the pollution crisis that the fashion industry engenders. I saw a huge need for access—an access to capital, to networks of buyers, and to the inner workings of the fashion industry, which were all heavily gatekept by industry insiders,” Karvinkop had shared  at the time. Therein began their journey of building a B2C community of sellers, including labels such as  Amesh, Suket Dhir and Leh Studios among others. It was also when the brand raised money for migrant workers affected by the stringent government-imposed lockdowns across India by collaborating with organisations like Doctors for India and Migrant Workers Solidarity Network. 

Once lockdowns weaned and life found its footing once again, two goals became quite clear for Karvinkop. First, the want for community and connection was never greater, and second, the crafts—and those involved in making them—had suffered a deep, staggering setback during the pandemic. For Karvinkop, to be part of the fashion industry would mean attempting to take care of the craftspeople and bring them back on their feet. This steered No Borders into a new dimension of localised, regional community events from its new base in Bengaluru. 

Building a community with a conscience  

Workshops with Tharangini Studio, an ethical and sustainable women-owned block-printing initiative; henna workshops with third-generation henna artists; and garland-making workshops have formed the core of No Borders’ community gatherings. “I feel as South Asians, as Indians, we should be so proud of our crafts, and we aren’t. We tend to look so much towards the West for validation when we have so much in our own country, right? It is important to be able to showcase our crafts in the right way instead of Westernising them. You're showing the craft, you're showing its history, you're showing all of that in the realest, rawest way possible.”

The trick, then, is to always keep listening. Karvinkop keeps a tight tab on what her growing community wants, likes and appreciates. A movement towards appreciating the breadth of our country’s ancestral wisdom and crafts is a part of her passion, project and purpose—it is also the way in which the world is now moving.

Earlier this month, she launched ‘No Borders In-House’—a discovery and delivery of almost-forgotten craft clusters across India, starting with the craft of Kasuti from North Karnataka. A collection created with the women of Sakhi Saphalya in Dharwad—a community of artisans aiming to revive dying crafts and preserve the rare art forms of the region. “Artisans are in villages and towns and are taking their time doing their work and sending us the pieces so our customers know that there will be a waiting period involved, and have no issues with it,” she explains. “We send them images of the entire production process, and that's something that's very beautiful to see, really helping  the artisans gain traction. It gives them a lot of joy to see their names being mentioned in the process.” And most importantly, Karvinkop has seen younger generations of artisans come back and take to their ancestors' work as their own after their education. She hopes this movement sticks and finds firm footing in the modern Indian landscape. 

Next, Karvinkop hopes to take on Bandhni from Kutch but also the local forgotten crafts of Africa and Peru in an intersectional, collaborative way. Twice, she mentions during our conversation that sales has never been the focus for her. But as a brand that straddles the elusive worlds of community, commerce, collaboration and content,  No Borders could be a case study for several large luxury fashion houses trying to be a coherent and cohesive part of consumers' lives today.

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