Why heat matters.
India is not just getting warmer. It is getting stickier, longer, harder. Our clothing has not caught up — and it shows, on our skin, in our comfort, in our confidence.
Average summer temperature rise in Indian metros since 1990.
Peak relative humidity in India's coastal cities during monsoon.
Increase in heat-index days above 40°C in the last 30 years.
Time an average urban woman spends outside air-conditioning daily.
A summer in Mumbai today is not the summer your mother knew. The average May in most Indian metros now runs two full degrees hotter than it did in the 1990s. Humidity — the silent multiplier — has climbed further still.
The consequence is quiet, but everywhere. Fabric clings a little longer. Festive wear starts to feel like armour. The Monday morning kurti that once made you feel put together, now makes you count minutes to the AC.
Comfort has become a climate question.
OASS starts here — with the honest observation that a garment built for a milder India is no longer fit for the India we actually live in.