Founder

Akhil Nagpal graduated from the renowned Central Saint Martins in London in 2017, while in college he received The William Atkinson Award for Craftsmanship and won the LVMH Masterclass Competition. After graduation he worked with Peter Pilotto in London and Manish Arora in New Delhi before starting AKHL in early 2020.

New Wave Indian Hand-Craftsmanship

AKHL is rooted in challenging conventional narratives of what India can design and produce. Our emphasis is on redefining traditional Indian handcrafting techniques through material, technical and visual innovation.

Ultimately we are about creating evocative handcrafted fashion that embraces cutting-edge aesthetics, touches of sexuality and subversion, and positions Indian fashion towards a global 21st century audience.

Sustainability

AKHL is centered on producing high-quality, made-to-last, slow fashion products. We work with our online retailers on a ‘Made-To-Order’ basis to ensure conscious production to minimise waste. We also concertedly work with our physical retailers on mindful production quantities to ensure we sell out/nearly sell out every season, again ensuring minimum stock wastage.

We employ a wide range of locally produced and sourced traditional handmade materials in our manufacturing as well, helping sustain generations-old handicraft cottage industries.

Environmental Safety

AKHL works with internationally accredited laboratory Intertek to test its fabrics and materials, ensuring they’re free of any harmful chemicals or heavy metals and are safe for the environment and human use.

Brand History

AKHL showcased its debut collection at Lakmé Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2020 as the winner of the prestigious Gen Next competition and has been a recipient of various awards since then. AKHL won the Elle Graduates Designer Of The Year Award in 2022 and The Grazia Young Fashion Award in 2021.

AKHL is stocked at stores and platforms across the world including in North America, Europe, Middle-East and India and has been featured in articles and editorials in leading fashion publications including i-D UK, Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, The Business of Fashion and Indian editions of Vogue, Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia and Cosmopolitan.