Saving lives through a piece of clothing

In grim times like these, when we are struck by the second wave of the virus which is affecting many in the worst possible way, any help is worth it. Last week, saw fashion bloggers coming out and donating a handsome by selling their clothes on Instagram. Whatever they earned from selling pieces from their personal wardrobe went to verified foundations that are helping the community. Influencer Karishma Yadav Bhalla sold 10 pieces and raised 12000 which she donated to Hemkunt foundation while blogger Aayushi Bangur donated a lakh after selling 20 pieces from her own wardrobe. “At this time of emergency every kind of community support counts – be it monetary or physical or mental. I think all of us are trying to do our bit personally but for me as someone who has a wide reach, I thought it was essential to awaken that community spirit and to make people realise that every bit counts! I always get messages about people telling me that if I’m ever looking at selling some of my clothes they’d be happy to buy them, so I just jumped on that opportunity. Everything was sold out in minutes and we were able to pass on that amount to the foundation right away which helped them arrange oxygen cylinders for their drive through and in house patients,” says Bangur. Agreeing to this Yadav adds, “I asked my followers, if they wanted the sale to go live and if they wanted the sale and were willing to shop, 80% of them said yes. So, I did it. At that time, I was connected with Hemkunt foundations and they were helping many. So, I decided to donate the preceding. This was a way for me and my community to come together to help them and the society.”

Even designers have joined the bandwagon, while some are putting up sales and donating the earning to different foundations, some are donating a percentage of the earnings to ngos. While SVA by Sonam and Paras Modi are giving 70% of their sales to a foundation, designer Sneha Mehta and duo Lecoanet and Hemant be is donating 20% of their sales. In the light of depleting resources, spike in COVID cases and the disheartening situation of people seeking treatments, Paras and I thought of doing something and helping the situation in whichever small way we could so we decided to donate to Creators for DFY, an NGO which is putting a lot of hard work to set up centres and make more beds and procuring best of medical services available, which is crucial at the moment to save lives,” says Sonam Modi. Designer Sneha Mehta adds, “It is the need of the hour, we need to help others and keep the economy going at the same time. We are looking to donate as much as possible so it can help those in need.”