The Koaka Collective (Damini Mittai)

Redress Design Award 2019 Finalist

Meet The Designer

“As both a fashion consumer and creator, it is essential for me to design holistic solutions to the problems within the industry, and creating awareness amongst consumers is the first step towards sustainability. Consumers have to start looking at clothes not just as commodities but as living items with a lifecycle that can negatively impact our environment over time.”
The Koaka Collective (Damini Mittai)
“As both a fashion consumer and creator, it is essential for me to design holistic solutions to the problems within the industry, and creating awareness amongst consumers is the first step towards sustainability. Consumers have to start looking at clothes not just as commodities but as living items with a lifecycle that can negatively impact our environment over time.”
The Koaka Collective (Damini Mittai)

Bio

Damini Mittai is a finalist of the Redress Design Award 2019, as she worked as an Assistant Designer, currently does freeland projects and juggles her own brand. The Koaka Collective, an amalgamation of passion projects — from art, design and illustrations, but at the core of it, sustainable practice, emphasis on community, compassion and value of culture.

Mittai’s Small Town Project in 2021 used textile waste to drive this community project of including the empowerment of women in her hometown, those restricted to patriarchal environments of economic dependency, to play an active role in upcycling waste into traditional patchwork and quilting. Following this in 2023, her SEMBLANCE collection involved overlays of upcycled pre-consumer textile waste from the manufacturing process, turned into a new life of value and function.

She has a Post Graduate Diploma in Fashion Design from the Pearl Academy in Delhi.

Region

Collection

Focus

Brand

Redress Design Award Collection

Aiming to foster a connection with consumers and the land, Damini’s competition collection ‘Rangavalli’ is inspired by the land’s sacred value in Indian culture, particularly in her hometown, Palamaner, where terracotta made from the soil has provided a source of income for centuries. Damini up-cycles a variety of waste textiles, including cut-and-sew waste, secondhand and unsold clothing waste and surplus threads. Each of her designs is reversible, creating versatility for the wearer.
Rangavalli

Redress Design Award Collection 2019

Aiming to foster a connection with consumers and the land, Damini’s competition collection ‘Rangavalli’ is inspired by the land’s sacred value in Indian culture, particularly in her hometown, Palamaner, where terracotta made from the soil has provided a source of income for centuries. Damini up-cycles a variety of waste textiles, including cut-and-sew waste, secondhand and unsold clothing waste and surplus threads. Each of her designs is reversible, creating versatility for the wearer.

March 20, 2026

Online Session: Circular Fashion Design Strategies with Redress Design Award 2025 winners

Join a LIVE online session for emerging designers to deepen your knowledge for creating circular fashion, and give you an edge in your application for the Redress Design Award.

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March 17, 2026

2026年度「Redress 設計大賽」現已開放申請!

設計師們 :你們的考驗是以回收再重用的紡織品,沿用循環時尚的設計策略 ,為時尚前衛的成年人設計一套現代系列。

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March 17, 2026

The Redress Design Award 2026 is open for applications!

Calling all emerging fashion designers: We challenge you to design a contemporary collection for a modern, fashion-forward adult, using waste textiles and guided by circular design strategies.

Read More →

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