Sustainable St. John's designer is fighting fast fashion, one dress at a time

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 08, 2025 2:00 PM EST | Last Updated: March 8

A Newfoundland and Labrador fashion institution that got its commencement halfway crossed the satellite is warring accelerated manner done sustainability, says its founder.

Shweta Mohan started her made-to-order covering institution Sewnology 4 years agone portion surviving successful India and has since relocated to St. John's.

"Every formal tells a communicative due to the fact that each formal is made to the assemblage benignant and the assemblage preferences of the customers," she told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

Mohan said making customized ordered covering was an ethical decision, pointing to the manner industry's sustainability and ethical problems. It's known arsenic "fast fashion," she said. Companies over-produce items, which creates pollution and depleting h2o resources. She items those companies don't merchantability extremity up successful landfills.

Mohan says she doesn't usage chemicals to dye her cloth and since each formal is made specifically for a customer, she's not wide producing them.

The pre-designed dresses typically outgo betwixt $70 to $80.

How it's made

When moving connected a caller portion of clothing, Mohan says she starts with selecting the fabrics, which are handcrafted. From there, and with the client's measurement, it gets stitched together.

She has a stitcher and embroiderer based successful India, who she calls her "two pillars."

"I would accidental that I person been a one-man service due to the fact that erstwhile I started I utilized to grip everything by myself, the marketing, the accumulation designing, everything," said Mohan.

In 2021, Mohan was surviving successful India and moving arsenic a robotics process automation developer for Ernst & Young, though she ever had a emotion of fashion, she said.

"I person ever liked to benignant myself and customize my ain dresses. Also, I utilized to springiness manner proposal to my friends and family," she said.

She says determination were besides times erstwhile she would spell buying lone to beryllium disappointed with the apparels she would find and wonderment wherefore it wasn't disposable with a definite benignant of sleeve, cervix plan oregon formal length.

LISTEN | St. John's Morning Show host Jen White speaks with Shweta Mohan connected founding Sewnology: 

"That's however I started thinking, 'Oh yeah, I should commencement my ain covering brand.' So I started disconnected my ain probe for a twelvemonth oregon so," she said.

Mohan says acceptable retired to recognize however the manner manufacture worked, arsenic good arsenic manner illustration and design. She began chasing her passionateness successful March 2021, but it took a planetary pandemic to springiness her the push.

In 2022, Mohan came to Newfoundland and Labrador to prosecute a two-year masters grade successful business administration astatine Memorial University. She brought Sewnology with her.

"I ever wanted to larn much astir the concern strategies and the selling to assistance my covering brand," she said.

But Sewnology is simply a side-job for Mohan. She works for Suncor Energy, but says she's open to the anticipation of Sewnology becoming a full-time gig.

"Once I get large reach, I would decidedly see that," she said.

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