21-Year-Old Indian Innovator Is Turning Discarded Jeans Into Livelihoods

What if your old jeans could become more than waste? Maharashtra, India’s 21-year-old innovator Yogeeta Kishore is transforming discarded denim into lifestyle products while creating livelihood opportunities for women artisans.

Her initiative, IndieJeanous, is built around a deceptively simple idea: give unwanted denim a second life while ensuring that the process creates value for communities.

The young innovator has now taken a major step forward after IndieJeanous was selected among the Top 20 teams of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026. The program gives Yogeeta Kishore access to mentorship, peer learning, and expert feedback as she develops a prototype and explores how her community-focused idea could become a scalable venture. Samsung identifies IndieJeanous as a Mumbai, Maharashtra-based circular denim initiative led by Kishore.

From Old Denim to a Bigger Mission

For Yogeeta Kishore, the project has evolved significantly during the past year and a half.

IndieJeanous initially focused primarily on upcycling discarded textiles. But participation in the innovation program encouraged Yogeeta to look beyond simply converting waste into another product.

She began examining the wider journey of textile waste, including how materials could be better utilized and how the resulting products could address genuine customer and community needs.

“There is a huge difference in my idea,” Kishore said. “Earlier, we were only focused on upcycling, but now we are looking more deeply at how that waste can be utilized. We have also started prototyping.”

That shift could prove crucial as IndieJeanous attempts to move from a promising community initiative toward a model that can operate at greater scale.

Why Women Artisans Are Central to IndieJeanous

The initiative is not solely about reducing textile waste.

Yogeeta Kishore wants the model to create livelihood opportunities for women artisans, connecting environmental sustainability with economic opportunity.

That combination gives the project a broader purpose than conventional recycling. Instead of treating discarded denim simply as a material to be processed, IndieJeanous is exploring how waste can become an input for products while supporting people involved in their creation.

The approach also reflects growing interest in circular-economy models, where products and materials stay in use longer rather than moving directly toward disposal.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Gives Kishore a Bigger Platform

Being selected among the Top 20 teams has also changed Kishore’s perception of what IndieJeanous could become.

Presenting the initiative to a jury and interacting with other young innovators exposed her to different approaches to problem-solving.

“When I presented my idea and shared it with my peers, I realized that I was not just solving a problem within my own community,” she said.

The program has also given her something equally important: confidence.

Yogeeta Kishore says that developing an idea largely on her own had sometimes left her questioning whether it could genuinely create an impact. Connecting with peers facing similar challenges helped change that perspective.

“When I talk to my peers, I feel that I am doing something real,” she said. “I feel inspired and confident.”

From Discarded Jeans to a Scalable Venture

The next challenge is turning that confidence into a working solution.

Yogeeta is now developing a prototype while refining IndieJeanous around environmental impact, customer needs, and livelihood creation.

She also credits mentors and experts with helping her understand that a strong innovation must solve a real problem for the people it is designed to serve.

“You have to understand the customer and make sure the solution genuinely addresses the community’s needs,” she said.

At just 21, Yogeeta Kishore is still at the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. But IndieJeanous is already attempting to connect three increasingly important conversations in India: textile waste, circular design and women’s livelihoods.

What started with discarded denim is now taking shape into a larger proposition: an unwanted pair of jeans could become a useful product, an income opportunity, and potentially the foundation of a scalable social enterprise.