Young and raring to go

These college graduates are running businesses with a cause

When it comes to business ideas, there’s never a dull moment in Bengaluru. Young and old, a lot of people have started small businesses since the pandemic broke out and that scene is getting exciting with every passing month.

Metrolife spoke to two youngsters who are running businesses and quite successfully.

New clothes from old

Industrial design student Disha Pai is giving old and out-of-use clothes a new life through her venture, Phirki. The 22-year-old collects discarded clothes from all over the country, upcycles them with new dyes, stitches and prints, and then sells them through Instagram. To incentivise people to give away clothes for upcycling, Disha shares 20% of her profits with these donors.

Upcycling trash was a childhood hobby but it was when she learnt the truth about fast fashion that she decided to do an eco-friendly business. “I was studying the fashion industry for a while. I realised the cheap clothes we see online have a real human and environmental cost,” she comments on the fact that fashion is the second-most polluting industry after the oil sector.

“And so, I don’t even throw the leftover fabric. I use it to do patchwork,” she says.

Clothes that can’t be upcycled are passed on to NGOs for further distribution.

Look up phirki.in on Instagram

Cosmetic products to destress

Akshata Hegde runs an interesting line of cosmetic products called Metamorphe on Instagram. “I create products that relieve anxiety because I have struggled with it for most of my life,” explains the 21-year-old B Com graduate.

She gives an example, “The lava lip oils (in my inventory) are designed in a way that just watching the oil flow throw the tube calms down the mind.” She sells highlighters, body shimmer oils, lip tints, among other items.

She has partnered with a pharmaceutical company that prepares the right formulation for the base oil, to which she adds cosmetic ingredients later. She says her products meet the needs of everyone regardless of their age, gender, and skin type.

Her business is inspired by brands like KKW Beauty, Kylie Cosmetics, Morphe and Rare Beauty by pop icon Selena Gomez. “Selena’s products are packaged in a way that people with arthritis can use with ease. She has arthritis herself and she knew the struggle,” she shares.

Look up metamorphe.in on Instagram