November 08, 2022

Behind the Brand - An interview with Priyanka Putti, Founder of Commnsens

At Commnsens we’re deeply rooted in building and nurturing our online community. We wanted to sit down and chat with our Founder and Creative Director - Priyanka Putti.

From her entrepreneurial journey to sharing snippets from her life. Grab yourself a cup of coffee or drink of choice and keep reading!

When did you first realise you wanted to pursue a design degree and become an entrepreneur?
Priyanka: Growing up I was always fascinated by the Fashion industry, I used to spend hours flipping through magazines and often imagining what it would feel like to have my own brand someday.

However, making a career out of it wasn’t a choice. I went down the route of becoming a Financial Analyst but spent most of my time styling friends and family. I soon came to realise the happiness and drive I felt towards creating something of my own, this was my calling and now that I look back, I’m happy I made the bold choice of stepping away from a conventional job to follow my passion.

How did Commnsens happen? What made you choose such a unique name for your brand?
Priyanka: As I started pursuing my degree in Fashion design, I soon understood that the lack of knowledge and education towards more eco and conscious fabrics, makes people like you and me continue buying and supporting fast fashion brands.

I started spending time educating myself about the effects of fabric on the environment and how it all came down to us using more ‘common sense. We’re constantly being fed news about the Fashion industry being one of the biggest contributors towards global warming, but most of us aren't aware of our individual actions. However, making conscious choices to me is the true meaning of ‘commnsens’

Why did you decide to only use Plant Based fabrics for your brand?
Priyanka: It’s purely out of personal preference. I knew I wanted to work with a fabric that not only made great silhouettes but also worked well with the environment. My love for Plant-based fabrics started, while I was working on a research project during college. As my fascination and knowledge grew towards the subject, I started diving deeper into how I could turn these fabrics into beautiful pieces of clothing.

To answer your question, it comes purely from personal preference backed with knowledge and the science behind it. Once I knew how I felt wearing them, there was no turning back!

Why is it important to you, to run an ethical fashion business in today’s day and time?
Priyanka: We as consumers are currently at a stage where we’re slowly becoming aware of the brands we support. Most of us don't want to associate ourselves with fast fashion brands. We’re moving towards wearing brands that cater to our personal style while aligning with our values.

As a fashion brand in the current market spectrum, it's not an easy task to decide what parts of sustainability to prioritise while remaining relevant in the fashion world. Ethics and sustainability are exactly at the core of our business. It’s stayed a priority for me, ever since the start.

I continue to apply personal values and beliefs to my business, so it’s a natural consequence to create a business based on them. By using fair trade and sustainable practices, we can improve the lives of our artisans and help the environment while delivering better products to our customers. Ethical fashion to me not only means your clothing is eco-friendly but is people-friendly too.

What does sustainability and consciousness mean to you?
Priyanka: As consumers, we have the greatest potential towards impacting climate action. Whether we are fully aware of it or not, humans are only a small part of the environment.

Despite that, we have the biggest impact on the planet, which is why it’s important to be environmentally conscious. For me, environmental consciousness is about not only being aware of our impact on the environment but actually taking deliberate steps to minimise our impact on a personal level. This includes everything you do and everywhere you go, even if it seems minuscule in importance.

What have the last 4 months in business taught you? What has been the most challenging and rewarding part of it all?
Priyanka: Running a business isn’t easy, no matter how other business owners make it appear on social media. There are long hours involved, competition is fierce, customer expectations are on a rise, cash flow worries are persistent and business strategy constantly needs tweaking.

The last 4 months have been the biggest learning curve so far as an entrepreneur. Getting the product we put all our hearts into out there has been the most challenging yet rewarding aspect of it all. Truly so grateful for all the love and support we’ve gotten! The reaction we get when someone sees our designs and the process that was involved in making them motivates me to educate people further about what we do as a brand.

What does a typical work day in your life look like?
Priyanka: My typical workday starts with a workout followed by a coffee run. I then head to the office around 10 am. I’m quite fortunate to have a 40-minute commute to work. I spend this time slowing down, whilst listening to music.

Once I get to the office, I catch up on emails and go over my schedule for the day. The team comes in at 11:00 am, which only means that I’m in full work mode now. Together, we’ll work on sketches, prototypes, quality checks, and accounting. Not every day looks the same, it depends on what holds priority for that specific day.

I personally prefer time blocking my day, a few hours of focus at work and then taking a 2-3 hour break by running some errands or catching up with friends for coffee. This little hack ensures my personal life is rarely influenced by how my day unfolds at work.

How do you want people to feel when they wear a piece from Commnsens?
Priyanka: While our values are deeply rooted towards our fabrics. We take pride in creating vibrant, bold and well-designed pieces. We design for eco-conscious people who want to live a more sustainable life and leave less of an impact on the environment and enjoy comfort and effortless style in their daily lives.

All our products are made to order in small batches. This keeps our production less wasteful, and exclusive, so no one at the party will be wearing the same dress as you! We like making you feel special while giving you clothing that feels great on your skin.

What has been your favourite collection so far and do you secretly have a favourite piece as well?
Priyanka: Honestly, we’ve worked very hard in building, and thoughtfully articulating designs with every piece of clothing we’ve made so far.

I’ve personally really enjoyed creating our Dreamy collection the most! The whole process of conceptualising and developing the prints for this collection was a lot of fun and of course, if I had a secret favourite piece, it has to be the ‘cowlish top; from this collection! The colours and how it feels on the body instantly puts me in a great mood and I’m sure our customers can vouch for that too!

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