Enoch Kim
Claremont, CA| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program |
| Project Title: | Shein-ing a Light on Achieving Circularity for India’s Textile MSMEs |
| Field of Study: | Political Science |
| Home Institution: | Pitzer College, Claremont, CA |
| Host Institution: | National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| Grant Start Month: | September 2025 |
| Duration of Grant: | Nine months |
Brief Bio:
Enoch Kim is a recent graduate from Pitzer College, a member of the Claremont Colleges Consortium. He majored in political science and international affairs, focusing on the political economy of Asia and the Middle East. Hailing from Illinois, he spent his formative years rooted in Korean-American activism.
Enoch has written for various newspapers on campus, such as The Student Life and Claremont Undercurrents, where he reported on labor organizing, student protests, and on-campus movements. He was also a delegate, training manager, and vice president of Pomona College’s Model UN (MUN), where he competed in conferences across the United States, earning accolades such as Outstanding Delegate for his four-day performance in the AI warfare policy committee for the Harvard National MUN 2024. He has also worked with Welcome to Chinatown, a community-based nonprofit focused on combating gentrification and preserving immigrant culture in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Besides, he has worked as a DEI and government affairs intern at Ingredion, a Fortune 500 company in global food solutions. Presently, he is volunteering for the campaign of Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive congressional candidate for IL-9. Enoch is passionate about protecting the rights of the marginalized and combating authoritarians, at home and abroad.
Enoch’s Fulbright-Nehru project is studying the economic and environmental impacts of the rising fast fashion industry in Tirupur, Mumbai, Lucknow, and Delhi. He is particularly focusing on the fast fashion brand Shein that represents a global consumption pattern toward synthetic textiles, in contrast to the domestic consumption pattern, which is more geared toward the natural textiles produced by small businesses. He is also exploring a circular economy framework to find ways for small businesses to improve their business using their competitive advantage of higher environmental sustainability. Enoch’s project aims to create a holistic picture of the Indian textile ecosystem in order to create pathways for MSMEs to survive and evolve in this era of globalization.