Rhea Kapoor uses star power to help small businesses get back on track amid coronavirus pandemic

In late June, Rhea decided to use her star power for the better and launched “The Good Influencer Project” to help those small business who had been affected on account of the coronavirus pandemic, and ensuing lockdown.

Fashion has always been producer and stylist, Rhea Kapoor’s forte, be it dressing up sister Sonam Kapoor Ahuja in the latest trends or collaborating with designers to create exquisite collections. As part of her “The Good Influencer Project”, Rhea shared the stories and struggles of two brands on her Instagram, donning their designs. The first post was about Āroka, a brand that mixes “distressed and dark identity with authentic Indian handloom techniques in contemporary modern silhouettes”. The caption for the post said that the brand was “unafraid to tackle social issues, often intertwining art, opinions and emotions to highlight everything from dissent to sustainability to uplifting the less fortunate.”

Shweta Agarwal, the co-founder and designer was quoted as saying, “While COVID did affect our online sales, our priority was always to make sure the migrant artisans we rely on are given their dues, whether we received orders or not” stresses talking about the changes the brand went through over the last few months. We have used this time to further cultivate an online presence, strategising and re-branding our identity to fit the ethos of the times. As a slow fashion brand with trans seasonal based collections, our dedication to circular fashion has also helped us ensure we don’t over produce, which in turn saves us from mounting dead stock.”

Rhea had previously also shared the some pieces by the label Haneen Op, where she sported a floral knotted shirt, that gave a very vintage vibe, and were paired with black plants.

In late June, Rhea decided to use her starpower for the better and launched “The Good Influencer Project” to help those small business who had been affected on account of the coronavirus pandemic, and ensuing lockdown. What started as a project to simply share the voices of those who were impacted, soon turned to something much bigger when on the first day of announcing the project and asking people to send in their stories, Rhea was bombarded with over 7,000 mails, which racked up to 18,000 the next day. In an interview with Forbes, Rhea shared that she decided to utilise her contacts and influence to help people, and that she will continue to do so after the pandemic ends.

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