In the luxury clothing market, high-end products don’t always equate to a company’s ethical or sustainable practices. A lack of transparency is still holding many brands back a long way. Greenwashing continues to occur in the fashion industry, but many small, emerging brands are trying to provide the much-needed change that consumers have been asking for without sacrificing creating beautiful products. There is.
Meet Vidur Adalkha, founder of New York-based brand Là Fuori. He aimed for a different approach. After completing her master’s degree in fashion design at FIT, Adarka returned home to India and became a designer at a factory, working on accounts for Ann Taylor and Tory Burch. Birch’s team was interested in him, and Adarka began working directly with the brand’s New York team. He then worked on global sourcing for the men’s clothing department at Costco and as director of production and sourcing alongside product development at Walmart.
Through her various jobs, Adarka has seen “containers being dumped into bodies of water due to excess inventory” in Panama. He said the experience hurt him personally because it was not just his nine months of labor, but the labor of thousands of other workers as well. Mr. Adarka said that while everyone was compensated for their contribution, the loss of the human artwork and essence that went into making the garments was a big negative, especially for consumers. They don’t know how (it’s made) or what’s made of it.” It is being done. ”
La Fuori’s 2025 Pre-Fall Collection.
Adharka traveled throughout Asia, working closely with factories in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India to develop her products. During a trip to Shanghai, Adarka had a chance encounter with Riccardo Benidini, a former broker of antiquities in Venice. Adarka and Benidini are interested in travel and culture and launched their brand in 2020. Its name comes from a conversation in Shanghai. La Fuori means “outside” in Italian.
La Fuori sets itself apart not only by its eye-catching, brightly colored designs and embroidery, but also by its use of vegetarian muga silk, recycled materials for embroidery, and carbon-free dyes. Another pillar of brand accessibility is size inclusivity and the ability to offer custom sizes at no additional cost to brands. Adarka knows firsthand what it’s like to go to a store and find something that connects with you, but not be able to buy it because the size is limited or it’s not affordable. I am. He absorbs the price of making the brand’s 3x XL size and 4x XL size to ensure customer satisfaction and gain loyalty.
A major impetus for launching the brand was to communicate directly to consumers about the people who make the clothes. Adarka said she wants her products to be cherished and worn over and over again.
Vidur Adarka
“I want to tell the story of the people there, the story of the culture there,” Adarka told WWD. “Being able to really transform and tell the stories of the people we met at the factory level, the people we met in our sourcing operations, the actual artisans and workers who worked on our products, and give their stories a platform. It’s a beautiful experience that we were able to do to enhance it. ”
When designing her collections, Adarka draws inspiration from her travels, but also by meeting artisans from local communities. Adharka has seen the crafts of village artisans disappear and refuse to pass on to the next generation due to lack of proper compensation. He gives back to artisan communities around the world by empowering them and educating them on how to make money through art. He currently works with over 300 artisans in villages around the world.
“I work with artisans to develop prints and artwork,” Adarka says. “We hand-paint and develop all of our artwork this way. They don’t just collaborate with me for that particular project; they take their work and make it better in a contemporary way. By selling, you can adapt your work and actually increase the popularity of your work. What I’m trying to build is a community of people who are interdependent and benefit from each other.”
La Fuori’s 2025 Pre-Fall Collection.
Adarka also has its own factory in India and employs 140 people, which is unusual among most fashion brands. He built the factory to continue evolving with the brand, making it a central hub for all aspects of the brand’s sourcing and artisan design. Mr. Adarka not only pays his artisans upfront payments above the average market labor wage, bypassing intermediaries, but also shares 10 percent of his profits directly with the artisans, ensuring their professional development. , continues to carry on the tradition of cultural craftsmanship.
Là Fuori recently caught the attention of Revolve Clothing. The brand just launched online with the company this year. “When we learned about the brand, we were immediately drawn to its intricate feminine designs and uplifting color palette,” said Maddie Mark, fashion editor at Revolve. “Vidur’s artisanal embellishments are perfectly paired with effortless silhouettes, resulting in the perfect combination of freshness and luxury.”
The brand, which ranges in price from $300 to $5,000, has seasonal trunk shows at Moda Operandi, Harvey Nichols Dubai, Bloomingdale’s Dubai, and Five Story in Palm Beach and Southampton. The brand will also be available at Neiman Marcus on January 31st. While the United States has been La Fuori’s main market, Adalha is also interested in the Middle East.
“True sustainability isn’t just about materials; it’s about relationships. Craftsmen work best when they are empowered to create in their own spaces, rather than following a rigid production system. It is about challenging the idea that uniformity equals quality and celebrating the beauty of imperfection,” Adarka concludes.
