The founder and driving force behind Ecowings is Kapil Sharma. In 2010 he started his first experiments to make products from car inner tube. We asked him how Ecowings actually came into existence. This was his answer:

How did Ecowings took birth?

I did my design education at Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune. After that, I got the opportunity to work with Tata Johnson Controls as an Industrial Designer. Later I joined Autoline India Limited which had design collaboration with Zagato based in Italy. These two organizations changed my mindset and I realised I should work on something which can transform the current environmental situation. Right from the beginning I was interested in design teaching and later I joined a fashion design institute where I started a completely new journey towards a sustainable and aesthetical world.

Where did you get the inspiration?

Everyday on the way to my institute via transport Nagar which had lots of Truck tire seller who used to sell second hand truck tires on the other side several Thela walas (four wheel cart) people used to sell scrap truck tire tubes to earn their everyday livelihood. This everyday action used to shake me from inside and provoked me with lots of curiosities as what happens when these tire tube goes into incineration or further processing. I started my research in this area and took it on the next product possibilities. I found this material extremely durable and waterproof which was plus point to craft any life style product.

How did you start production?

Product design journey started with very basic tools and I started several experiments with tire tube. Initial prototypes were not very satisfactory but I had strong gut feeling this is something which can create a huge impact and transformed into a value product. Eventually the first three finished products came out and my father encouraged me to exhibite it in a Green exhibition fair. I realized we have cracked the code and it can go further to form a larger business opportunity.

We did exhibition at many places and we had great experiences and feedbacks from the audience. In 2012 Angela Rooijmans entered in Ecowings and then gradually things turn in different directions and ecowings got acceleration. We entered into export market and we determined to come up great quality products. Day and night we worked hard to achieve the best quality stitching and design and today we are known upcycle leader in Europe.

Read the article about Ecowings in the Better India here.