The Arc: The Story Behind ALMA’s Signature Collection
Some shapes are beautiful because they stand still. Others feel like they’re going somewhere.
The Arc belongs to the second kind.
Long before Alma had a name, there was a sketchbook.
Disha (founder and designer) found herself drawn to the work of Zaha Hadid during her time at NIFT Gandhinagar. The fluid forms, unexpected curves and the way she made architecture feel almost alive. Years later, that fascination stayed with her.
When the idea of building her own brand began to take shape, she found herself returning to those same forms.
The answer became the Arc Collection - a series of sculptural silhouettes shaped by movement and curiosity.
Why the Arc?
When you’re building a sustainable business, there’s an idea of circularity that you’re drawn towards.
And we kept coming back to one shape: the circle.
A symbol of completion. Of wholeness. Of circularity.
But the circle felt too final.
Alma was only just beginning. The impact we hope to create was and still is only beginning.
So we broke the circle.
And found the Arc.
A shape that stays in motion. One that suggests possibility rather than an ending. A reminder that we're always moving, always becoming, always finding our way forward.
That idea became the foundation of Alma's first collection.
The Arc isn't just a shape we designed. It's where our story began.
For us, it became a symbol of possibility and circularity.
An arc doesn't have a rigid beginning or end. It keeps moving. And that felt like the right shape for Alma: a brand questioning where our materials come from, how we make things, and what fashion could look like next.
The collection draws inspiration from the fluid, futuristic forms of architecture—where curves aren't just decorative, but functional, expressive and full of movement.
So we started designing around the curve.
And then came the material.
From Banana Waste to Something Beautiful
The Arc Collection is crafted using Banofi®, a banana-based plant leather made using banana crop waste.
Every year, banana plants are harvested for their fruit, leaving behind stems that would otherwise be discarded. Banofi takes this agricultural waste and transforms its fibres into a material designed to offer the look, feel and performance we expect from leather—without using animal hide.
That idea fascinated us.
Something that was once considered waste could become the starting point for something people want to carry, keep and live with.
From plant to purpose.
When Material Meets Design
But a material story alone doesn't make a great bag.
We didn't want to make a “sustainable bag” that happened to look good. We wanted to make a really good bag—one you'd choose even if you didn't know what it was made from.
So we began with the design.
The curves. The proportions. The way the bag sits against the body. The way it opens. The way you reach for your essentials. The little details that make something feel intuitive once you start using it.
The result is a collection that feels sculptural from the outside, but considered from the inside.
Because for us, conscious design isn't about making something look conscious. It's about making something worth choosing.
The Bags
The Arc Collection brings this idea to different moments in your day.
Aurum is designed for work and everything that comes with it—your laptop, notebook, everyday essentials and the things you inevitably carry around “just in case.”
Ember takes the Arc into a more compact silhouette, designed to move easily from day to evening.
Different personalities. The same point of view.
More Than a Shape
The Arc is our first collection, but it is also a starting point.
A starting point for exploring what plant-based materials can do.
A starting point for making bags that are expressive without being excessive.
And a starting point for asking a question we keep coming back to:
What if the future of fashion could be beautifully designed from the very beginning?
That's what the Arc represents to us.
A new material. A new shape. A different way forward.
And we're just getting started.
