All this led to a deep study into the horrific impact plastic and non eco-friendly packaging had been having on the environment. But this never measured upto the creativity of the garment business and left me bored until I stumbled upon some bedsheets and table linen leftovers from the hotel industry.The ingredients are now in place to be able to upcycle more and save even more. But having said that there is some disappointment over the fact that the general feedback here in India is more on how the products are China injection molds “nice” and competitively priced, rather than an appreciation of their virtues. It didn’t start off as profitable but it gave me a complete understanding of how organised retail worked globally, work ethic and culture — call it a hands-on MBA.

As they say, luck favours the brave and one day, right in the middle of a cricket match between friends, the owners of Cotton World asked me to drop by to show samples of the upcycled cloth bags, which eventually became a 15,000 bags a month contract.It started a little over five years ago, after I joined my family’s recycling business — where old and used imported woollen and synthetic pullovers were being converted into yarn for the blanket-manufacturing industry.Also, more than being just profitable, there is now pride in how a small start-up has reduced a large carbon footprint on the planet and then there’s the scope of making millions of upcyled textile products each month. I hope that changes soon. The raddiwala DNA was awakened. Rohan I think it was 12 years ago my cousin Rohan called me a “risk factor” in the family business.

More importantly, there’s motivation here for out-of-the box thinkers. The idea was simple — we would create the new, from the old.And coming from a family that has enjoyed years of sports, the virtues of “dreaming big and never give up” never really left me. The ‘I’m not a virgin’ tag was ideated as part of a programme that never took off but now, we have another one which says, ‘I’m so wasted’. I felt I had finally matured and even began taking orders at a loss to ensure clients wouldn't pick non eco-friendly products. It made the products catchy. This ‘education’ overwrote a lifetime of studying which never extended beyond clearing exams.How a Mumbai businessman recycled discarded bedsheets to make an impact. The bags were born.What followed were a series of crazy thoughts, the opening up of a closed garment unit and the christening of Authentic Impex as the domestic arm of Texool.The writer runs Texool, which upcycles discarded cloth from the West and turns them into bags for brands such as Disney and Steve Madden. That pretty much sums up my efforts that span two decades in the garments business