R|Elan Circular Design Challenge 2024 winner rkive city is set to debut its first-ever solo runway collection, Reclaim The City, at Lakmē Fashion Week x FDCI on 27th March 2025 at The Atelier, Jio World Convention Centre. Their showcase comes as a result of winning the prestigious R|Elan Circular Design Challenge 2024, held in partnership with the United Nations in India, which champions innovation in circular fashion. This opportunity allows the brand to present a collection that embodies the core principles of sustainability and circularity, reflecting the very ethos of the Challenge.

The R|Elan Circular Design Challenge (CDC), launched six years ago by Reliance Industries Limited in partnership with the United Nations in India and Lakmé Fashion Week, is a pioneering platform dedicated to driving sustainability and circularity in fashion. Originating in India, CDC empowers young designers and entrepreneurs to showcase innovative circular solutions, nurturing a new generation of environmental champions. Through mentorship, market access, and industry exposure, the program continues to propel emerging leaders who are redefining the fashion and textile value chain with sustainable practices. Since its inception, CDC has been instrumental in shaping India’s eco-conscious fashion narrative. In 2023, it expanded globally to the UK, European Union, and Asia-Pacific, further strengthening its vision to be a catalyst for change in the global fashion ecosystem. This unique partnership exemplifies how industry, the fashion community, and multilateral organisations like the UN can unite to drive impactful change—aligning with the principles of Mission LiFE announced by the Prime Minister of India. The platform’s global partners include Istituto Marangoni, British Council, and Redress Design Challenge.

Reclaim The City is a study in memory, built from the remnants of materials left behind. It explores the idea of revival: not just of garments, but of forms, details, and cultural rhythms once deemed obsolete. Through post-consumer textiles, the collection traces a narrative shaped by remembrance, with the objective of transcending the past. Each piece exists as part of broader research into how textiles carry both history and possibility. A sleeve might recall a uniform, a pocket might resemble a market worker's jacket, and a stitch might trace the imprint of a pre-loved garment. The collection does not come together through uniformity but through carefully reconstructed diversity of texture, fit, and feeling.

This 36-look collection consists of salvaged scraps, reconstructed denim workwear, repurposed leather, and classic silhouettes reimagined through neo-manufacturing practices. Every garment is made entirely from post-consumer materials; reviving discarded clothes through techniques such as block printing, patchwork and creative waste management. Old boring office shirts, in particular, are a core exploration of the collection. Once discarded for minor imperfections, these pieces are revived and reconstructed with new patterns, dyes, and textures, celebrating the beauty and ease of repair.

As the team prepares for the runway in Mumbai, Reclaim The City seeks to highlight the dialogue between preservation and progress. With the city undergoing massive redevelopment, there is a lost sense of history and culture in the new architecture. As the city expands, this collection is a call to reclaim and preserve heritage and design whilst leaving space for future change.

For rkive city, revival is not nostalgia: it is an active reimagining of the past within the contemporary landscape. Every piece carries the imprint of what came before, reconstructed with care to create what comes next.