Dive Into Sustainability With Goya Swim Company | Swimwear From Plastic | The Breakfast Club

Now by now you all know how on TBC we love supporting given entrepreneurs and we also love putting spotlight on sustainable solutions. So you marry the two and you have somebody called Ria Mazumdar single. Now imagine this a plastic PET bottle turning into this a really nice luxury swimwear. That’s right. You have plastic bottles like this. They are sterilized, they are shredded into flakes, the flakes are churned into a yarn and then that yarn turns out into a high end luxury garment. It’s genius. So we thought, let’s speak to the woman behind all of this. Riya Mazumdar Singhal. Let’s take our first question. Riya, we are coming to you from the Delhi studio. How did you think of this idea? Ya, I was in Goa 2022 starting in fashion. You don’t start in 2022 without going sustainable. So I went around looking all across the world saying what could we find and that’s when I came across this amazing material which is created by this amazing company based in the US where they they’ve already collected about 38 billion plastic bottles and converted it into fiber which now I’m using to turn it into that, right. So basically Ria, this concept is not new, right? It has existed for a while, its in fact been under works for over a decade now. So how did you think of turning that into swimwear? And the question really I want to understand is plastic stays on forever. Does that apply for the fabric as well? Yes it does. Yes it does. You have the, you have the swimsuit that will last you at least 20 years. I promise you its going nowhere 20 years. Toya, what is the difference in the price of a recycled bathing suit versus if you’re going to go out there and just have new fabric? Can you tell us wow do you want to you want me to give you iron Rs. So because the process of collecting, converting is, is is a very, very time consuming and obviously good for earth process. It it, it comes at a slight premium. So let’s say a regular swimsuit would cost you about 3 1/2 thousand rupees. Anything that is sustainable is going to be at about six ₹7000. And then and then and then there are brands who say, hey, I’m the brand, so another ₹5000. Yeah. So basically, that’s the kind of price you pay to have this earth live a little longer perhaps, But that brings me to Ria. What kind of clientele do you have? Are people ready in India at this point to pay that extra premium for a sustainable fabric? So over the last year and a half, I’ve realized there we are split in two. Half of us really, really believe in sustainability and are willing to pay the premium for it. And then there is the other which remains the lovely Indian consumer who is always looking for a good value, good value, good bargain. We are trying really hard to catch them. Yeah, but so far, not many takers on. So far. Yes, it the. I think the process is education, right? It’s not just about saying, hey, it’s a beautiful brand, it’s a sexy swimsuit. It’s about saying this you’re wearing 29 plastic bottles on you. Isn’t it amazing? That’s a good way to think about it. Wearing 29 plastic bottles, all that plastic That could be, you know, swimming in the ocean is actually turned. Killing the fish, killing the fish, killing all of us in one form or the other is now on you. So that’s a beautiful thing indeed. So good luck, Ria. Thank you so much. You and to several other people who are making use of this fabric. On that note, we’re going to slip into a very quick break, but there’s more coming up.