Met Gala 2023: Kerala-based High-Fashion Brand Weaves A Historic Win with Iconic Sustainable Carpet | Exclusive

Met Gala 2023: It was a big and proud moment for India and Kerala-based high fashion, luxury brand Neytt by Extraweave on May 1. The brand made history second time in a row when they created the iconic carpet for the biggest night in fashion, the MET Gala 2023.

Last year, when the Metropolitan of Art’s Costume Institute decided to shift from the traditional red carpet and moved on to a sustainable one, they chose to connect with Neytt by Extraweave, a company based in Alleppey in Kerala. Little did they know that they would be manufacturing it this year too.

When News18 got in touch with Sivan Santhosh, co-founder of Neytt by Extraweave, he was overwhelmed with the love their work has been receiving on social media. Sharing light on how everything fell into place for them, Sivan shares, “It is a proud moment for us and India to have our creation at the MET Gala 2023. We got the order through one of our customers in the US, called Fibreworks Corporation. They do a lot of high-end projects in the US, so we got the order through them. They connected us with the MET Gala team and we directly worked with the designers there who designed the carpet and we manufactured it in Kerala.”

The state-of-art carpet may be used for just a single day, but Sivan shares that the carpet is completely biodegradable and sustainable. Made from Sisal fibre, which is derived from the Agave plant, the fibre is 120 cm long, sturdy and is used to make floor coverings, wall coverings and high-end carpets.

“In 2022, MET Gala moved from the traditional red carpet to natural fibre carpet. We used a material called Sisal, which is derived from the bark of the Agave plant.It is a biodegradable and sustainable fibre. From the same family of the Agave plant, which is a cactus and the fibre is around 120 cm long, sturdy and can be dyed into any colour,” says Sivan, adding, “We made around 58 rolls of 4 metre by 30 metres, and the total comes to around 6960 sq metre. It took us 60-70 days to manufacture the whole thing. It is machine made along with a lot of hand finishing done to complete the carpet. The carpet colour was whitish beige which was then hand-painted by local artists in New York with red and blue.”

While Sivan wasn’t able to attend the MET Gala, he shared how happy he was to see the carpet after he saw it installed. He says, “We have an installation team in Fibreworks which does installations for us. Initially, we didn’t know how it would turn out, but when it was installed we loved how it looked on the stairs. Also, changing the traditional colour has worked out for us very well.”

With renowned celebrities such as Rihanna, Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Dua Lipa, and Roger Federer gracing the carpet with their exquisite looks, the carpet did play the perfect canvas to enhance the celebrity looks. “We are so glad that the carpet really added to the beauty of the whole event. We really hope some of the celebrities like Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra Jonas took notice of the carpet at the event. It is really an achievement that a brand in India has manufactured it,” shares Sivan.

Alia, and Priyanka, if you are reading this, we hope you give a shout-out to Neytt for laying out the perfect backdrop for your ensembles.

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