20: From software to sustainable fashion – a story of purpose and impact

Wow @ Work

Since 1995, over 300,000 Indian farmers have taken their own lives. When software engineer Apurva Kothari read about this, he was compelled to leave his dream job and return to India to do something about it.

Apurva is a software engineer who fulfilled the dream of many young boys by working as a software consultant in San Francisco, New York, and eventually Sydney. However, while in New York, Apu read an article about the cotton crisis in Indian farming, and learned that 300,000 farmers from India had taken their own lives, with these deaths linked to GM farming in the country.

This tragedy prompted Apu to leave software engineering behind and create a sustainable clothing company called No Nasties in 2011. No Nasties uses only organic cotton and other sustainable materials, closely monitors and informs the consumer about the carbon footprint of their products, and even has a returns policy for used clothing.

Through his chat with Stephen, you'll gain a greater understanding of the unsustainable nature of our current consumerism model and learn how to purchase clothing in a more ethical way.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

– Mahatma Gandhi

Links

• Connect with Apurva on LinkedIn
• No Nasties – Sustainable clothing made in India
• The story behind Monsanto’s malicious monopolies in India