Cause

The "cause" signifies a deep need that initiates the process of innovation, as the name suggests.

"Every design project is usually initiated by a need (be it a commercial requirement or a social
necessity) or a problem with the product. This need or problem recognition is a key trigger for the project and it can be identified either by a product manufacturer/marketer, user, or even a
product designer."
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While the pandemic limits everyone to the premises of their homes, it also brings families closer. Being in the same space all day long strengthens bonds through a better understanding of each other's lives. As a result of this, we were able to notice that among all the family members our dadis (paternal grandmas) took longer than everyone to get dressed in the morning & often required our mother's help, more often so as the years passed.

The human life span is increasing. The average in the 1980s was 48, in the 1990s it increased to 59, in 2000s it was 66 and increases to 78 in 2010, bringing about a lot of age-related problems of health, food, and clothing. The last one among these, clothing, is the second skin of human beings. It is an important aspect of human life because of its protective and aesthetic functions as well as cultural significance. Clothing needs have to be altered as per the needs of the population of 60+ years. This is because old age is characterized by declining physical capacities yet the desire to be looking and feeling their usual young self is only normal. This issue can be resolved with aesthetic clothing that looks similar to traditional wear & is yet more functional in design and easy to wear and maintain.

Upon discussing this concern with our grandmothers, we got to know the following issues:

• Sarees are not sufficiently adaptable to the extreme temperatures of Winters/Summers

• Sarees are not sufficiently compatible with sweaters, raincoats, sweatshirts

• The length of a traditional saree makes it hard to be washed by hands & harder to hung out to dry

• In monsoon heavy regions sarees take too long to dry after wash

• Although only among women of 75+ years of age, there’s seldom acute pain in one or more among- lower back, knee joints & shoulders, as a result of having to stand up for too long to drape the saree

We explored more through phone calls to elderly female relatives of ours from different socio-economic backgrounds and realized that although clothing has been changing with times, the elderly female members of our society continue to wear traditional clothes, mostly sarees. Most of these elderly women, face societal constraints when it comes to clothing as well as several are not interested in changing their clothing as a matter of choice. In these as well as other scenarios, we felt that it’d be best to have a saree, with the traditional look & essence conserved adapt to the needs of the elderly females rather than having them adapt to new clothing that they don’t necessarily feel comfortable in.

images: Showcasing family get-togethers on  different occasions; notice how all but the elderly female has their clothing transformed with time & the level of comfort

Finally, we conducted a small survey (results can be found here) to check whether this issue is common across all parts of the nation. And not surprisingly, we received feedback that confirmed the widespread & genuine nature of the problem that we were exploring & hence, made us finalize it as the cause for this project.