About this project
The Aquativity Project (TAP) is a South Asian fashion brand founded by Nidhi Kotikalapudi, dedicated to sustainability, cultural storytelling, and challenging conventional beauty standards. The brand transforms donated waste fabrics into South Asian inspired garments, turning discarded textiles into wearable stories. The brand’s work challenges conventional beauty standards, showcasing diverse identities and broadening what fashion can represent. Through previous initiatives, including its fashion show, a debut at Calgary Fashion Week, and collaborations with Madhuban Performing Arts TAP has engaged over 1000+ attendees and partnered with a diverse team of 30+ emerging young artists, providing them with opportunities for creative expression and leadership.
Our upcoming project is a South Asian-inspired streetwear fashion show in Calgary, focused on sustainable design, youth leadership, and community engagement. The event will feature a pop-up store, showcase local designers and artists working with upcycled materials, and include workshops to educate attendees about the environmental impact of fast fashion and practical upcycling methods. Young participants will lead all aspects of production, from design and marketing to logistics and stakeholder collaboration, ensuring meaningful youth inclusion across the project lifecycle.
By promoting responsible consumption, supporting local talent, and fostering awareness about sustainable practices, this project aligns with SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and aims to reach hundreds of community members, inspiring them to rethink waste and creativity in fashion. The Aquativity Project combines innovation, cultural storytelling, and environmental action, offering a replicable model for youth-led initiatives that merge sustainability with artistic expression.
Goals and Objectives
The Aquativity Project’s next initiative is a South Asian-inspired streetwear fashion show in Calgary, centred on sustainability, youth leadership, and community engagement. The primary goal is to make sustainable, culturally inspired fashion accessible to the broader Calgary public while providing meaningful opportunities for emerging young artists to showcase their creativity.
The project’s objectives include:
-Showcasing youth talent: Feature designs by emerging artists, giving them exposure, mentorship, and leadership experience
-Promoting sustainable fashion: Educate attendees about the environmental impact of fast fashion and demonstrate practical upcycling techniques.
-Community engagement and commerce: Host a pop-up store and vendor space for immediate garment purchases, supported by a website and personal stylist app for ongoing access and custom orders.
-Scalability and innovation: Develop a replicable model that can expand in designers, interns, staff, and eventually integrate the transformation of used fabrics back into reusable thread.
-Intended beneficiaries include young emerging artists, local designers, and South Asian clients interested in sustainable fashion. Emerging artists and interns will gain hands-on experience in event planning, design, and marketing. Local designers will benefit from increased exposure and the opportunity to present their work on a larger platform. South Asian clients—often underserved in mainstream markets—will have greater access to garments that honor their heritage while aligning with eco-friendly practices.
-Sustainability and replication: The project is designed for long-term impact through its website, pop-up store, and potential expansion into upcycling infrastructure. Its model can be scaled to include more designers, larger audiences, and broader geographic reach, inspiring similar initiatives in other communities committed to youth empowerment and environmental responsibility.
Expected result
1. Fashion Show Presentation: Successfully produce a South Asian-inspired streetwear fashion show featuring 15 unique pieces by emerging young artists, scheduled for June 2026. Each piece will highlight sustainable upcycling practices, cultural storytelling, and innovative design. Progress will be monitored through completed design submissions, rehearsals, and a finalised show lineup.
2. Support for Local Artists: Provide appropriate compensation and exposure for all participating artists and interns. This includes a team of 30+ creatives, including designers, models, and production staff. We will prioritise hiring emerging professionals to strengthen their portfolios and career opportunities. Success will be measured by the number of artists engaged, contracts issued, and payments finalised by showtime.
3. Pop-up Store and Vendor Activation: Launch an on-site pop-up store during the show to sell sustainable fashion pieces, generate revenue to offset production costs, and support participating vendors. Monitoring will involve tracking sales, visitor numbers, and vendor feedback, with the goal of fully operational sales during and immediately after the event in June 2026.
4. Digital Engagement & Audience Growth: Increase public engagement by building a strong online presence. Targets include 5,000 followers across social media platforms, active website traffic for custom orders, and interactions through a personal stylist app. Metrics will be tracked through analytics tools, follower counts, and website conversion rates, ensuring measurable audience growth by August 2026.
5.Sustainability & Replication: Demonstrate the feasibility of scaling up the project, with long-term plans to recycle used fabrics into resaleable thread and expand collaborations with more designers and interns. Monitoring will involve documenting processes, tracking materials repurposed, and gathering participant feedback to refine and replicate the project for future seasons.
6. Community Impact: Engage at least 200 attendees in-person and thousands online, raising awareness of sustainable fashion and cultural storytelling. Impact will be measured through event attendance, post-event surveys, and media coverage to evaluate knowledge transfer and community reach.
Partners
About me / organisation
Nidhi Kotikalapudi
Nidhi Kotikalapudi, a biomedical sciences student at the University of Calgary, started The Aquativity Project (TAP) to bring together her passion for sustainability and South Asian culture. Through TAP, she gives discarded fabrics new life by turning them into traditional fashion pieces, using art and design as a way to spark conversations about overconsumption and climate responsibility. From projects like the Trash2Treasure fashion show with Ocean Wise, her work shows how creativity and culture can inspire communities to think differently about the environment.
Website