I spent time reading through multiple interviews, past features, and conversations while working on this piece on Anita Dongre. Because when you want to interview someone like her, you have to understand how one of the country’s most established designers has built a career that has stayed relevant for over three decades while holding on to a clear point of view on craft, business, and sustainability.
Anita Dongre
It is a body of work that moves across fashion, retail, and community, and that makes it worth looking at closely. Dongre’s journey started in 1995 in Mumbai with two sewing machines in a small unit. There was no clear roadmap for building a fashion house at that point in India. Retailers refused to stock her early work, which pushed her to take control of distribution. In 1999, she opened her own store at Crossroads, one of India’s first malls, located in Mumbai. That decision gave her direct access to the customer and changed how she approached design and retail.
She describes her path through what she has learned along the way. “Learning how to stand up for myself as the first girl in the family to choose an entrepreneurial path, that too in my early twenties… learning how to love the math and data that drive the fashion businesses,” she says, remembering those early years. That combination of instinct and business clarity shaped the structure she built over time.
One of her early ventures included AND, the ready-to-wear line focused on workwear staples for women. It addressed a clear gap in the late 1990s and early 2000s market, when very few Indian brands offered functional, everyday clothing for working professionals.
Flying high while staying rooted as the business grew through the 2000s and 2010s, Dongre expanded into bridal, couture, and prêt, building multiple verticals under one umbrella. Her bridal line became widely recognised for its detailed craftsmanship through techniques like gota patti and fine hand embroidery, which were adapted into a format that felt current without losing theiroriginal context.
Meher FW25 , Photographer: Ritika Shah
Her runway shows have consistently reflected this approach. She has staged large-format presentations in heritage locations over the years, including palace settings in Rajasthanthat placed her collections within the cultural landscape they draw from. These shows rely on textile, colour, and surface detail to carry the narrative.
Her recent showcase—Rewild 2026—a fashion fundraiser for nature and elephant conservation in Vadodara this year, set against the Lukshmi Vilas Palace, furthered that direction. The collection drew from regional craft traditions and was presented in conversation with the architecture and scale of the palace grounds. The focus stayed on textile and silhouette with lehengas, sarees, and fluid separates featuring detailed handwork and a strong colour palette. The setting reinforced the relationship between the garment and its cultural source without turning the presentation into spectacle for its own sake.
Photograph: (Rewild 2026, Photographer: Aviraj Singh)
Her international expansion has been steady. She opened her New York store in 2015, which marked her entry into the global luxury retail space. Since then, she has forayed into the Middle East with stores in Dubai and other key locations and, more recently, into the United States with a presence in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. These spaces place Indian craftsmanship within a global retail context, allowing her work to sit alongside international luxury brands.
Effecting systemic change
In 2015, Dongre launched Grassroot, which remains central to how her work is understood today. The line focuses entirely on craft and sustainability, built through direct partnerships with ar-tisan communities across India. She explains the intent clearly. “Grassroot was born as an act of collectivism, one that united the new guard—makers like me—with the custodians, the craft families.” The idea was to build a system where craft is sustained through consistent work, notseasonal reference.
The collections work with handwoven textiles, natural dyes, and traditional techniques such as Ajrakh printing. Production stays tied to artisan clusters, and the relationship is structured as long-term collaboration. This changes how value moves within the business.
Rewild 2026, Photographer: Aviraj Singh
Her association with organisations like SEWA plays a key role here. Women artisans across rural India work on embroidery, weaving, and textile processes for her collections. Dongre often points to the broader impact of this work. “What has humbled me most is what happens to a rural community when women are employed gainfully,” she says. The effect extends into education, financial independence, and stability within these communities. She also challenges how the industry approaches craft. “I saw a gap where designers were borrowing the aesthetic of craft without investing in its continuity. I wanted to build something that reversed that equation,” she says. That thinking sits at the core of Grassroot.
Sustainability as practice
In Dongre’s work, sustainability operates through daily decisions across the business. Production is planned in smaller quantities, with repeat runs based on demand instead of large initial volumes. This reduces excess inventory. She addresses this directly. “We produce slowly and in conservative quantities… doing second and sometimes third rounds of production for popular styles rather than over-producing at the outset,” she says. The approach affects timelines and mar-gins, but it aligns with how she wants the business to function.
Meher FW25 , Photographer: Ritika Shah
Materials and packaging are evaluated with the same lens. Compostable packaging and responsible sourcing form part of the production cycle. These choices come with higher costs, which she acknowledges openly. Her definition of sustainability extends beyond materials. “Sustainability is a practice where social, environmental, and economic choices must be balanced to create viable outcomes,” she says. This includes how artisan partnerships are structured and how resources are used across the brand.
Her personal life reflects the same values. She follows a vegan lifestyle and has consistently advocated for cruelty-free fashion. That perspective feeds into her design and sourcing decisions, creating a direct link between personal belief and professional practice.
Legacy & the bigger picture
Dongre’s career spans thirty years, moving from a small workshop in Mumbai to an international fashion business with a presence across categories and markets. The scale is significant, but the structure behind it matters more.
She has built a system where craft remains central, where artisan communities are part of the business rather than external suppliers, and where production decisions account for long-term impact. Her work continues to evolve with changing markets and audiences, but the foundation has remained consistent.
She sums up her approach lucidly: “I’ve always seen my work as an ongoing dialogue rather than a destination.” That idea explains why her legacy does not sit in a single collection or moment. It exists in the way the business continues to function and grow.
