Sporting Kannada cool

T-shirts with Kannada slogans, poems, contemporary graphics, and Kannada film stars are all the rage on Bengaluru’s fashion scene

July 22, 2015 07:23 pm | Updated 07:23 pm IST

Wear your language with pride

Wear your language with pride

Kannada cool — that’s the new mantra on the Bengaluru fashion scene. No, it’s not limited to Rajyotsava celebrations and sloganeering. It’s time to display that sense of Kannadiga pride on your chest, or wear it on your sleeve, as clichéd as that may sound.

Tee-shirts with Kannada slogans and “young” designs have caught the fancy of Kannadigas, and even non-Kannadigas.

It’s a new way of displaying the pride in the land and the language. It’s a great gift to give your colleague or introduce your new friend from out of state to the language in a fun way.

Creating t-shirts that are considered 'cool' enough to hang out in

There are three major Bengaluru-based websites from where one can shop for these t-shirts, and all are run by young, software engineers who juggle this along with their full-day techie jobs. It is a coming together of friends from engineering colleges. They all do it for the love of the language, and it is their passion, they say.

They put their own money into the venture, not worrying about returns. Many return from work to sort out orders before the courier service picks it up; some have family pitching in to get deliveries going! Weekends are spent sourcing t-shirts, finalising designs, taking stock.

Sudheendra Goudanavar and Gokul N.K. started the online Kannada tee store, Aziteez, five years ago on Rajyotsava day.

The 20-somethings who work in the IT industry and are from R.V. College of Engineering, had something gnawing at their minds since their college days when they saw everyone wearing only English-slogan tees. “We used to get Kannada t-shirts made for Rajyotsava celebrations every year, and unfortunately it would soon become a night shirt. We felt we should make something trendy, that young people would want to wear when they hang out in malls too,” says Sudheendra.

Though sales peak in November, when they sell over 5,000 tees in one month, through the year they sell about 10,000. “Dharisi Kannadava, aadarisi Kannadava” is the idea Aziteez is based on — it translates into “Wear Kannada, respect Kannada”. “The intention is to get people interested in Kannada literature and culture and to prove that regional languages can also make a difference. We have taken popular lines of poetry from famous Kannada poets, modified them a bit, and added trendy graphics,” he adds.

From “I love Bengaluru” and “Naanu Kannadiga” hoodies, tees featuring the Kannada varnamaale in front and tourist attractions of the state on the back, collared t-shirts for office wear with a Kannada crossword on it — the range is constantly growing. “Most of our buyers are aged 18 to 35. Then there are bulk orders we get from corporate companies. We also get orders from Kannadiga expats from U.S.A., U.K., Dubai, Australia and Germany,” adds Sudheendra.

Total Kannada by yet another techie, V. Lakshmikanth, was one of the first physical stores in Bengaluru that stocked tees among other products that became hugely popular; they also sell online today.

Mithun B.N., a 31-year-old assistant professor at APS College of Engineering regularly buys and wears Kannada-slogan tees.“I have about 10 of them. I wear them to functions, and when I travel. Whenever I saw the ‘I love NY’ t-shirts I would think why cant we have one here? So my first buy was a ‘I love Bengaluru’ t-shirt. The point is that now I can get what I want to say in my language. Whenever I wear my Shankar Nag t-shirt at least three people stop me on that day and ask where it’s from. I have sent it to friends in Hong Kong and Germany. My students see my Facebook photos and want what I’m wearing!”

Contemporary designs for the young

Iruve is the latest kid on the block, having set up shop online seven months ago. They believe t-shirts are “the most visible ‘have-it-then-flaunt-it’ medium where contemporary Kannada content can be created and seen”. “T-shirt mele nammatanada achchu” is their tagline — stamping our identity on t-shirts. Started by six friends Krishnakantha J.C., Aalok, Sujit, Sharath, Rajeev and Karthik, they believe that these tees can be conversation starters. “The main idea is to get people to wear and embrace Kannada every day, and make it a part of life,” says Krishnakantha. They find that most of their buyers are aged 25 to 34 (all these guys being techies have detailed data analysis of everything!). Orders also come aplenty from all the neighbouring states and as far as Chandigarh and Singapore. They also find that people who are film and TV lovers, travel-lovers and of course, fellow techies are their biggest buyers.

Kool Sisya was started over two years ago by Harsha Gatt and Sandeep Parshwanath, both 31. He agrees that it’s easier for techies like them to set up such enterprises because they are comfy with technology. “We wanted people to be able to easily order Kannada tees through an online payment gateway. Most buyers are young and are at work through the day,” Harsha reasons for selling them online. “To showcase any culture, clothing is the best form of expression. Language always identifies you. It’s a style statement, and when you’re wearing such a t-shirt you’re also sending out a message — I am telling every one proudly that I’m a Kannadiga.” He says a large number of non-Kannadigs have also bought from them to gift these to their local friends at work. A whole lot of homemakers buy them as gifts for family members. “People going out of the country on work buy them from us because they feel other Kannadigas will identify and connect with them abroad!”

Hot Tees

Ghaanchaali bidi, Kannada maataadi

Naanu November Kannadiganalla

Bengaluru – Yeno one thara seleta

Monday Bisi

Nodi swami navirode heege

Naanu Kannadiga

Kurigalu saar kurigalu

Ai teri lakadi (actor Jaggesh’s catch phrase) as an eye chart

T-shirts featuring Rajkumar & Shankar Nag

T shirts featuring a Kannadaabhimana “metre”

Kannada, Kannadiga, Karnataka (featured with state map and a like button)

Where to buy :

www.iruve.in

www.koolsisya.com

www.aziteez.com

www.totalkannada.com

www.iruve.in

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