Shankar Is the Brand Blending Sartorialism With South Asian Heritage
We spoke to founder Jivan Purewal about the story behind the brand, its connection to his culture and plans for the future.
Inspired by the likes of Drole De Monsieur and Jaipur Rugs, rising brand Shankar was born from a desire to preserve craftsmanship, celebrate heritage and champion self-expression. Founded by Jivan Purewal and his wife Simran, the brand is named after Purewal’s granddad’s village in Punjab, and takes inspiration from traditional music, architecture and his own upbringing.
Described by Purewal as “an East meets West story,” the brand blends humble beginnings in India with a certain Italian sartorialism, resulting in a unique label rooted in storytelling, craftsmanship and culture. Influenced by the design of Indian architecture and buildings (which directly translates into the design of the clothing), Shankar offers a means of preserving traditional techniques whilst still bringing them into the future.
We caught up with Purewal to find out more about the catalyst behind the brand, the transition from bespoke to ready-to-wear and what he hopes for the future of Shankar.
Read on for the full interview and head to the brand’s website for more information.
Tell me a bit about the motivation behind creating the brand. What was the catalyst for you?
I didn’t come from an artistic or fashion background. I studied economics, so I’ve been purely in the financial and corporate worlds up until now. But I’ve always been deeply connected to my roots, my upbringing and the Punjabi culture I grew up around. The brand is a cocktail and a concoction of two cultures, because I was born and raised in the UK, but I’ve always been really connected to my roots. I actually only learned English when I was six years old, mainly because, for half the year, I was back in my granddad’s village in Punjab, Shankar, which is what the brand is named after.
At one point, I visited India for six months just for Shankar, as a research project. I looked at these age-old techniques that I upskilled myself on there, and with a lot of the techniques I came across, I realized, “This is from India. This is our culture.”
During lockdown, I was looking after my grandfather, who’d just had an operation, and we were reminiscing through old school photo family albums. The way they used to dress back in the day was phenomenal. They’d never leave the house without wearing a double-breasted suit and a tie. I had a lightbulb moment, and at that point, the idea just sprang into my mind.
I always wanted to pay tribute to where my story began. Initially, I didn’t know which channel I wanted to showcase that through, and it just so happened that fashion was that medium. I’m in the family business full-time, which is running convenience stores and selling Mars bars. Shankar is my creative outlet.
For those who aren’t familiar with Shankar, what would you like them to know about the brand and its mission?
I think our mission, and what I firmly believe in, is that we need to pay tribute to our origins. I think it’s very important that we remember the roots and the origins of our ancestors who came before us, what they might have done to start us on this journey.
Each one of our designs is hand-sketched and hand-designed, as well. We really hone in on the slow fashion concept. I’ve always said this about Shankar. We’re not the brand that’s always going to be the biggest. We might not even get anywhere near the biggest brands. However, I think for us, it’s about quality over quantity. And that starts with the design process.
Walk us through your creative process. As a new brand designing collections for the first time, how do you begin?
We’re in a market these days where the biggest brands are always just pumping out new collections because they’ve got those teams, and it’s fast fashion. For us, the garments have a real meaning, from the start of the design process to the fabric, to the person who is actually behind the composition of it. We’re cultural storytellers as a brand, and the visuals are key. From the start process, it’s all about storytelling and hopefully pulling at the heartstrings of the end user, whether they buy it or not. It’s just some form of, I suppose, appreciation, or some sort of resonance that they might have towards it.
Where would you say your inspiration comes from?
We’re a very small team. It’s literally my wife and me. Literally, it’s just a WhatsApp group to be honest, with my mom and dad, where we all send inspiration. I’ve always got a bank of ideas. I’ve always been a big fan of Mughal architecture and anything to do with Mughal palaces. It’s always been a huge source of inspiration for me, and then seeing it in my village, I want to bring it to life.
For the last collection, I started looking at the motifs that were on the building, on the borders, and we literally hand-traced them. So we then hand-sketched them and painted them. Aesthetically, I’ve always been inspired by the concept of old money, old sport and that Italian kind of sartorial elegance as well. It’s the bold placement of motifs, those Cuban-style resort shirts and the oversized double-breasted suits.
It’s always been an East Meets West story, using the Indian artwork and architecture, and then the placement and some of the colorways from Italian fashion and their kind of elegance.
What are some of the other brands or designers you currently admire?
Drole de Monsieur, I just love their visuals, the storytelling and their cinematic nature. It’s almost like they’re making movies, and some of their campaigns look like they could be a scene out of The Godfather. Outside of fashion, there’s a brand in India who focus on homeware and rugs called Jaipur Rugs.
Finally, what are some of your goals for the future? How do you see Shankar evolving?
What many people don’t know is that we actually started as a bespoke fashion brand. We transitioned more into a fashion house when we launched our own collection to bring to the market. We have some really exciting projects with music artists and other artists in the world of dance, art and music as well, where we’re making one-of-a-kind pieces and limited collections, and that’s the short-term to mid-term future for our brand.
In the long term, we’re always going to have fashion as part of our armory. The reason I started Shankar, and the reason I still do it, is that we’re here to celebrate the culture and artistry of all forms. I want it to turn into a bit of an umbrella movement, where it’s a festival of arts and culture, fashion, homeware and maybe even spoken word. It’s literally in our name, Shankar World. I want it to be a world of Shankar, where you can come and express yourself, come and tell your stories and find some sense of belonging.
