PET bottles, fishing nets and polythene bags may not be your typical idea of fashion, but clothes made from trash are increasingly making an appearance on Indian catwalks and in wardrobes as designers get innovative with sust
ainable alternatives.
The trend towards sustainable, slow fashion is the result of a growing awareness about how synthetic clothing is contributing to pollution. Globally, more than 60% of clothes are made with synthetic fabrics such as polyester, acrylic and nylon, which shed thousands of microscopic fibres with each wash, leaching these into the water supply and the oceans, where they are ingested by marine life.
The silver lining to this mounting pile of fabric waste is that the consumer mindset has changed, especially in the last five years, says Kriti Tula whose zerowaste brand Doodlage works with fabric waste from export factories to create patchwork clothes. “The millennial consumer is becoming more conscious of environmental problems,” adds Tula.
Doodlage was a contender for India’s first Circular Design challenge at the recent Lakme Fashion Week, which focused on brands working with materials upcycled from diverse sources of waste. The shortlisted contestants presented men’s shirts made from recycled plastic collected from Goa’s beaches; handbags and wallets made from recycled polythene bags, accessories from old saris, and clothes from discarded fabric waste.
This week, ITC Wills Lifestyle announced it would make garments made from materials that are natural and fully biodegradable, becoming the first mainstream Indian apparel brand to go completely natural.
Last year, designer Madhu Jain launched a new fabric, bamboo silk ikat, after 14 years of research, choosing bamboo because it was “biodegradable, eco-friendly, non-toxic and pocket friendly”. Designer Anita Dongre has been working with fabrics made of wood pulp.
Delhi-based designer Amit Aggarwal, who combines plastic and industrial waste with heritage fabrics such as chanderi, says customers want environmentally conscious clothing. “They understand the thought behind it and the amount of experimentation and designing that goes into creating our recycled pieces, so much so that they stand as luxury products in their own right, but have a conscience too.”
A growing number of international brands are now using recycled plastic. Adidas has partnered with environmental NGO Parley for the Oceans to create a line of sneakers from plastics collected from clean-ups in the Indian Ocean. In 2018, it sold five million pairs and plans to manufacture 11 million in 2019. Swimwear company Speedo, and smaller Indian brands such as The Summer House and PA.NI are producing swimsuits from Econyl, a fabric made from fishing nets and gear abandoned in oceans.
Even fast-fashion brands like H&M are highlighting innovative sustainable fabrics such as Econyl in its annual ‘Conscious exclusive’ collections. “Today, 57% of the materials that H&M group uses to make clothes are organic, recycled or other sustainable materials,” says Janne Einola, country manager H&M. “Our goal is to increase the share of sustainable materials every year.” Such “conscious collections” by fast fashion brands can have a large-scale impact if done right, says Tula of Doodlage.
Founder Roshan Baid says the trend is here to stay. “Five years back, people weren’t aware what recycled polyester was like. Now when they see it is as good, they buy it because everybody wants to do something for the environment.”
By Sonam Joshi |TNN
