Exhale Label - How Fashion Designer Palak Shah Expresses Positive Affirmations and Mental Health Through Fashion
“The way they say 'you are what you eat' I truly also feel 'you are what you wear'. Everyday you wake up and remove one piece of clothing from your wardrobe, without realising that there is a lot of thought and emotion behind it!” Today’s woman dreamer, Palak Shah, is the Founder of Exhale Label, a brand focused on spreading positive messaging and affordable luxury. Inspired with the name “Exhale Label” on a New York subway when she was studying at Parsons School of Design, Palak shares her exciting journey in the fashion world, such as Kareena Kapoor wearing one of her designs, working at top brands like Masaba and Vera Wang, and the powerful conversations her label has encouraged women to have on topics like body positivity and self-expression. Enjoy Palak’s inspiring story!
1) Tell us your story and journey in the fashion world. You mentioned an interesting story in how you came up with the name for your label on the New York Subway. How did you know you wanted to pursue fashion, particularly more western fashion?
Having been through my own personal struggle with self worth and identity and being a psychology and a fashion student, I really wanted to create a brand that brought two of my favourite subjects together to create its own identity and language.
Why not create a brand that talks about emotion and vulnerability. EVERYBODY has their own story to tell!
Every day on the subway on my way to work I would brainstorm on how to make this a reality. I would write down one new name every single day and the word Exhale was the last on my list. Everyday I would also scratch out a name once I couldn't sleep too well over it, ten day later the only name that wasn't scratched out was Exhale! The summer of 2017, I quit my job in LA to create my brand 'Exhale Label' that connected my dream of giving people a platform to talk about their story and create affordable yet good quality and edgy clothing.
A year later we launched on the 19th of May at The StyleCracker Night Market, 2018.
2) You are the creator of Exhale Label, an affordable fashion brand that is tackling mental health issues and encourages individuality through their clothes - in fact, Kareena Kapoor wore the brand. What was the need you saw for your brand?
The idea behind my brand stems from the lack of awareness and knowledge on the importance of mental health being as important as physical health. Fitness weeks and groups are constantly promoting the importance of being physically fit. But, how can you be physically fit if you aren't mentally fit?
Especially in a country like India, the conversation around mental health took off by 2019 and suddenly there was teh emergence of a new voice and a new youth which got everyone more attentive but it still isn't taken as importantly as it needs to, but everyday is a new day!
Exhale Label is my conscious effort to bring together people who have had personal harsh experiences around their insecurities, body shaming, depression which has affected their mental health. It's about building a community which says 'It's okay to not be okay'.
3) Your clothes bring people to have those crucial conversations around mental health, body positivity etc. How do you seek to empower young women through your clothes, ans what other topics do you want to address in the future?
The way they say 'you are what you eat' I truly also feel 'you are what you wear'. Everyday you wake up and remove one piece of clothing from your wardrobe, without realising that there is a lot of thought and emotion behind it! It takes a matter of seconds but it's purely based on your mood and how your mind is feeling at the moment. So slogans on garments end up being a great outlet even to express without having to say anything at all! It ends up adding to your personality without trying to make a point. In a lot of ways it also ends up empowering the person viewing the garment and a lot of the times, even the wearer! For example we have a tee that says 'Survivor' written backwards so when you wear it and look in the mirror you can read the word! We noticed a lot of women wore it for New Years eve as pretty much everyone has been a survivor to get through 2020 as a year! The power that a slogan product holds is rather underrated!
A slogan on products can also turn into a conversation starter between two strangers just sitting next to each other. So we had one customer who ended up bonding over our shirt that said 'Don't talk behind my back' at their kid's football game! Everyone usually has an opinion and here it's basically you wearing one but we believe in trying to spread positivity and kindness which currently the world really is in need of!
In a very subtle way a slogan ends up acting as a great catalyst towards self expression!
I wouldnt want us to be put in a specific niche. I think we like to associate ourselves to everything motivating, inspiring and happy and well as sad as long as it's real. We are not therapists, we are simply trying to normalize speaking about your real emotions as there is a sense on strength that comes from it.
4) What are your top tips to budding fashion designers and influencers?
My first tip would be to be authentic and don’t let it kill you! There are new designers that come up every single day but if you find something you have created from your heart and instead of looking at competition around, just focused on reaching your end goal, NOBODY can stop you!
5) Who is an empowered woman in your life that you admire?
As cliche as this may be, my Mother! I gave this quite a lot of thought! There is nobody that has played a deeper role in my life as a strong figure! This relationship doesn't always need to be rosy to feel this way, I have had my biggest inferiority complex with my mother and I still seek therapy for the same as she is my biggest critic. But I have never met someone to have struggled through life and still emerge with a smile! She is strong, independent and multi-talented! My biggest strength and weakness!
Thank you Palak for sharing your inspiring story with us! We are excited to have you in our women’s network!
Bio - Palak Shah completed my diploma at SNDT University, where my team and I won the best collection and best menswear at the Chrysalis Fashion show. Immediately post which, Masaba Gupta offered me an internship which then got promoted into being her head of Design for 2 years. Went on to study at Parsons School of Design and interned with Vera Wang and Jay Godfrey to get insight into how bigger fashion brands work. Post graduation, my new job as Assistant Designer took me to Los Angeles where I worked for a New York based startup called 'Sundays' and got introduced to the world of knits.