As 2022 comes to an end, we cant help but reflect on how much Sakhya has grown in the past year! We are excited to share that our small community of friends and family has now grown to 8000+ strong and counting so here are a few ways this community turned into what it is today!
A Passion for South Asian Fashion
We grew up playing dress-up within two different cultures. The day to day consisted of wearing jeans and tees, but during wedding season, it was all lehengas and kurtas. We were especially inspired by our moms looking like such queens in their silk sarees and heavy Indian jewelry. We aspired to look like that one day - confident, beautiful, and connected to our roots in our own authentic way.
Fast forward to today. We have poured our passion for both cultures of fashion into one place, Sakhya. It’s a community where people want to come to learn how they can fall in love with South Asian fashion in their own unique way, no matter their background!
No Gatekeeping
When it comes to fashion, we are not here to gatekeep trends, tips, tricks, even our own clothes! We believe that part of the fun of South Asian fashion is sharing and learning from one another. Sakhya has not only turned into a marketplace where you can shop and sell your own South Asian clothing, but a place where we share creative ways to reimagine your existing South Asian wardrobe, so that the next time you look at that old lehenga in your closet, you have 5 new ways to wear it to your next event instead of buying a new one!
Sakhya IRL
This year we hosted two live community events in real life - one on the West Coast where we met some of our Sakhya fam for the first time! We helped a bunch of local Sakhya sellers sell their pre-loved outfits during a live thrifting event. We basically created the first live South Asian thrift store where anyone can come and shop pre-loved South Asian clothing right from their local community!
And later, we turned it up a notch and hosted an even larger event during New York Fashion Week in NYC! We not only had another live thrift experience with an amazing turnout, but we also taught so many people how to style what they already own like sarees, dupattas, and blouses into modern Indowestern looks!
Sustainable and Accessible Clothing for All
At the core of it all, we want to share two very important things with the world:
1. Quality South Asian clothing is becoming more and more expensive and difficult to access for many people living outside of India. It shouldn't be this difficult to find and afford an outfit that is well made and fits correctly. Sakhya is an inclusive space where absolutely anyone can come to find exactly what they're looking for, no matter their criteria.
2. Unfortunately in the US and India, South Asian clothing is increasingly being treated as fast fashion. Ready to ship, affordable outfits are being made using very low quality material and craftsmanship at mass quantities. Meanwhile, many of us are buying so many of these outfits, wearing it only once and then either have it sit in our closets or simply throw it away when we're done wearing it.
Buying secondhand is one of the most sustainable and accessible ways to shop South Asian clothing because you not only can avoid buying something brand new, but you’re able to purchase something trendy at a fraction of the retail price!
Sakhya is above all a community where people can come together to reimagine how they think about shopping for South Asian fashion. We are thrilled and so thankful this community has grown into what it is today and we cannot wait for more tips and live events to share with our Sakhya fam in 2023! Feel free to sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on all things happening with us and future blog posts!