Designer Kanika Goyal has been making waves as she recently showcased at New York Fashion Week with her Fall/Winter 23-24 collection, Agrestal Mind. For a third season running, she is the only designer from India representing the country at NYFW. Additionally, Kanika has also launched a new brand, Kilogram, which offers easy-to-wear, unisex, elevated basics that are imbued with the brand’s signature narrative, all the while maintaining an effortlessly cool and visually ambiguous street element in its graphic language. We’re in conversation with the designer as she lets us in on Kilogram, her biggest learning from NYFW, and more.
Tell us more about Kilogram and what led you to start something completely different from your eponymous label?
We are extremely excited to expand our KGL umbrella, and Kilogram is the first brand that we’ve launched under it to reach a wider audience. Kilogram conceptualises a whole new universe, k-gram, where we question reality and its possibilities. It is a surreal realm where logic itself is dynamic and the limits of imagination cease to exist. This concept is ever-expanding and evolving consistently, and that’s something we communicate with each successive drop to its full extent. A sentiment of exploration and conversational commentary is omnipresent, along with a visual juxtaposition of varied graphic techniques.
We always wanted to cater to a larger audience, specifically here in India, and we got that in through Kilogram. We’ve received a lot of appreciation for our capsule lines at KGL that have had tees, hoodies, et cetera, in the past, and Kilogram offers them under a separate umbrella. It’s a mid-segment brand with products starting at 3000 INR. The price point wasn’t the only key point here. Giving a quality product within forty-eight hours of you placing an order in a seamless/contactless way was a crucial key point for us.
What gap in the market were you trying to fulfill with Kilogram?
An affordable and conscious mid-segment brand with a perfect match of aesthetics and comfort. We follow the ‘one for all’ approach here whether it’s the recycled, multi-use packaging design or the gender fluid pieces that one can share with their partners/family and get more wear out of, while using materials which are far less resource-dependent and have longer life cycles. We are implementing a circular mindset into every step of our production cycle, right from designing products to helping our customers to care for our products for a longer period of time/wear pieces in multiple ways and eventually, to loop them back into the circle.
What has been your key takeaway from the New York Fashion Week presentation?
It’s been an incredible journey so far. It’s a completely alternate experience when you are showcasing at a global stage and selling globally. It’s important to constantly study the diverse buying patterns in different markets and be in sync with your own brand ethos to deliver quality products. Innovation and sustainability are at the forefront. And having an experienced team that can translate your vision is extremely crucial too. I feel grateful that we get to showcase our craftsmanship at a global stage and get recognition for that amongst a diverse pool of designers.
How much of a difference is there in the design language of Kilogram and the eponymous label?
We tap on a lot of surreal alien-like, mysterious elements with a euphoric/humorous undertone that transports the user to an alternate space/reality which is similar to and is an extension of KGL. We’ve kept the silhouettes minimal and easy-to-wear and played with the surfaces here as opposed to KGL that involves heavy garment construction.
Finally, what should the fashion of now look like?
I feel comfort is the new fashion/new luxury. While in the past, comfort was sometimes synonymous with unfashionable, today designers are emphasising designs that have comfort at their core. It has become key for people and they are breaking free from restrictions and the stress of choosing what they wish to wear. Feeling at peace with their bodies and comfortable in their own skin is key. We are becoming loungewear aesthetes and are appreciating the joy in comfort. People still want to look well-dressed but they have gained the confidence to decide on products they feel good in and enjoy wearing.
Words Unnati Saini
Date 03-03-2023