January: With the changing fashion pattern, the practice of sustainable fashion is turning green unexpectedly. The fashion industry is becoming more and more aware of sustainable fashion and lifestyle. According to the Isle of Wight-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation, one truck capacity of textiles is burnt every second somewhere in the world which is quite a concern in terms of pollution and wastage around the world. Leading to room cutting floor waste of 60 million Sq. Mt., the annual production of the fashion industry is 400 billion metres of textiles.
President of the Fashion Design Council if India, Sunil Sethi quoted, “The beautiful thing about our country is our heritage. Our past was the most sustainable form of living. People say India is a latecomer to the sustainability game but to be honest, we were already living it until fast fashion and life messed it up.”
Sharing her opinion on the same, Rina Singh also quoted, as she launched Eka back in 2011, “Doing clothes is not confined to seasons. Something anybody can wear any time and a dress that represents India’s crafts language defines sustainability for me.” Many brands are currently focusing on providing green fashion technique with their particular signature.
Also read: ‘Pierre Cardin gave a new identity to fashion in India’, Designer Rajeev Sethi on Cardin’s demise
Sui Founder Mahima Gujral Wadhwa
As a young fashion graduate, in order to make something trendy, designers make a lot of mistakes and this is when it reached her eyes, Wadhwa confessed. Afterwards, she enrolled herself for a sustainability course while doing her post-graduation in Italy. During her fashion practice, Wadhwa realised that slow fashion or sustainable fashion was considered to be boring, however, she believed that clothes could be designed beautifully using better fabrics and green ethos. Her splendid collection includes hand-woven wool dress, hibiscusy off-the-shoulder Tencel tops, summer monster trousers, leafy bookmarks, daisy headbands, sunflower masks, the souk mask, flower power mask. Wadhwa is soon planning to launch her collection titled Tropical Sunshine summer 2020 and Wildflower winter 2020 edit.
The viewpoint of the brand is “We must be conscious of what we buy, right from the story it tells. It is a win not only for the buyers but for the weavers, block printers, craft makers, vendors who contribute to the cause.”
MyONEarth Founder Nitika Sonkhiya
Most of her products are made of bamboo, coconut shell, and coir with coconut. One of its product is make-up removing wipes made of bamboo which can be reused for upto 200 times. Her wide product ranges include Coconut shell smoothie bowl, bamboo reusable cutlery kit, Ayurvedic pure handmade copper water bottle with honeycomb design, organic neem wood combs, bamboo toothbrushes, Keishi pearl earrings, recycled pearl earrings etc. The new collection contains fashion crafts made of Kauna grass, jute and coconut shellbags.
Meiraas Founder Vidhi Rastogi
Known for the widest collection including Artisanal Lucknowi chikankari, resham chikankari, zardozi, kaamdani, Nui Shibori, Meiraas’s collection celebrates Awadh and its history using heritage embroidery crafts on handwoven fabrics. In order to practice her creativity, she quit her corporate career to pursue an ethical heritage craft-based label. The new collection of Meiraas is Ancient motifs on contemporary silhouettes with natural dyes and apparel made of Ahimsa silk and linen.
The viewpoint of the brand is “We can’t advise people ‘do not buy’, when India’s burgeoning population is dependent on consumption.” Neither can we promote mindless purchasing just because the product is handmade. This will turn slow fashion into fast fashion.
