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 “Design must have relevance for the mass, especially in a country in India. We are living in a complex world and in a digital age where design cannot cater to a particular group but has to serve the masses. There are so many sectors like healthcare, education, survival sectors and experiential leisure in which design plays an important role.”
– Pradyumna Vyas
"DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF DESIGN
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Eco-couture and where it stands
Eco-Couture has received recognition all over the West but is still a niche segment when it comes to the total size of the fashion market. “Organic Cotton, which is a sustainable raw material, account for less than 5 percent of the total cotton consumption around the world. For other fibres like non-violent silk, organic linen, organicwool, recycled polyester etc. represent aneven lower percentage in comparison to their regular counterparts in total global consumption. Having said this, all areas of sustainable fashion are growing significantly year on year,” says Vickram Kumar, Director, Organic & More, an ISO certified company exporting organic cotton fabrics, apparel, home-textiles, and made-ups from India. |
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A high-street sustainable learning store
 It is not just clothing we are talking about. Marks & Spencer (M&S), in its drive to become the world's most sustainable major retailer by 2015, has opened its first ‘high street sustainable learning store’ in India at South Extension Market in Delhi. Sounds like mumbo jumbo? Wait till you hear the credentials that come along. Trading over three floors, the new 20,000 sq ft store claims to host a range of sustainable construction and design features to reduce energy usage and waste.
 Here are some of the sustainable features, as mentioned in a release by the company:
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Heat transmitting glass helping to maintain in-store temperatures and cut UV ray penetration by 90%
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Solar reflective tiles that keep the store cool
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Energy meters to monitor the store’s energy performance;
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Rain water harvesting
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Dedicated recycling bins
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The use of rapidly renewable raw materials, such as engineered wood
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Public transport links and reserved parking spaces for car pools
Go figure out how that would make a difference in your wardrobe!
SUSTAINABLE FASHION MATERIALS:
 Organic products: organic cotton, bamboo, banana
Re-cycled products: recycled cotton, wood pulp for rayon, recycled polyester
Up-cycled products: products which are brought up in the supply chain to increase value
Re-used products: ‘waste’ fabrics being used innovatively
Bio-products: biologically grown fibers and fabrics from bacteria, fungus etc.
 INTERESTING INNOVATION:
Direct Panel on Loom (DPOL) technique. It Increases fabric efficiency by 15 – 22 per cent, reduces chemical and wastages such as energy and fibers by 17 – 20 per cent and saves water consumption by almost 80 per cent
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Indian market: Any buyers?
So India produces the maximum amount of organic cotton in the world. But what about the takers? Are people really buying eco fashion back home? Isn’t there a ‘tree hugger’ tag attached to it still?
And who knows what is organic and what is not? Are there any certifications one needs to look out for?
“Conscious consumers in Urban India are far and few and pretty much all of this organic cotton is being exported. The trend here is to either buy the big brands (which the upper and middle class desire) or to go for cheap fashion, which the mass retailers, the export surplus shops etc. sell out at heavy discounts. Someone needs to educate the average customer and eco-friendly garments and fashion and how it would benefit them in the long run. This may help the market get some recognition and numbers,” says Vickram. |
 “The challenge lies in making sustainable fashion hip and fashionable. If I can make a dress using a traditional Indian fabric like chikankari or technique like block printing and give it a trendy twist making it into a 1950s vintage dress – my job is done,” says fashion designer Anita Dongre who has a eco-conscious label called Grassroot as one of her business verticals. Every chindi (piece) of cloth I waste, I feel I am wasting a natural resource,” she says.
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A look at the stars
The recent star-studded Academy Awards were sure glamorous as always – the sparkling gowns and thes himmering accessories all in place. But here is something you might out have missed out on. All the fundraising by Hollywood biggies brought sustainable fashion to the parties. There were many highlights of the Global Green’s party – Missi Pyle from The Artist (the silent black-and-white charmer) in a ‘sustainable gown’ especially stood out. Actor Colin Firth and wife Livia hosted her ‘Green Carpet Challenge’ with high-end Italian designer Ermenegildo Zegna, asking the world's top fashion designers to “marry glamor and ethics with creativity and environmentalism”. Zegna, by the way, is “known to source fibers directly from their markets of origin.”
 Livia Firth and Emily Blunt stand between Colin Firth and John Krasinski dressed in Ermenegildo Zagna’s sustainable suits. |
The land of Khadi
 The Khadi Movement launched in 1920s by Mahatma Gandhi rode high on Swadeshi. Remember the famous words ‘production by masses and not mass production’? Of course, employment creation was another pushing agenda.
Should India then be more susceptible to the concept of eco-fabrics and techniques? Should it be brought back from the wane?
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Weaving it together
 Meet Carrie Parry: A green designer from Brooklyn with an interesting Indian connection. The woven wool in her collection supports Panchachuli Women Weavers, a development programme facilitating economic and social independence for women in the Indian Himalayas.
Over 800 women from a total of 32 villages in the region are involved in the processing of highgrade raw materials which are then processed, dyed with AZO-free dyes, spun, woven, and finished entirely by hand.
The cooperative has played a key role in changing the socioeconomic dynamics of the local community by providing livelihoods and empowerment using the traditional arts of weaving and knitting. The women are shareholders
in the company and receive regular wages.
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The BIG Question
Is sustainable fashion here to stay?
Fashion is a business of massive consumption. Can it really be green? Or is it just a farce? Is it simply another passing fad in an industry that is constantly evolving?
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Many ‘third party certifications’ have come up which track the life span of the raw fibre to the finished garment and the inputs used in the garment. This has helped give credibility to the industry. Otherwise everyone wanted to sell organic with no real basis to it. There’s a typical saying in the industry — If it ain’t certified, it ain’t organic! |
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Designers and their fashion houses would tell you every drop in the ocean matters. The world is accepting green clothing and ‘It is here to stay’ are the operative words.But is one sustainably stunning dress or tuxedo on the red carpet the answer? Khadi was once the call of the day but over the decades, we have all witnessed its defeat. Maybe it is time a few gifted and super-shining hands explored newer avenues and kept green in. |
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fabric’, international retail clothing giants are launching ‘conscious collection’ and celebrity fashion designers are going gaga over ‘locally manufactured natural textiles’— the fashion industry is going green. And its proponents are claiming all is being done for the sake of environment and people.
Yes, sustainable fashion is the new big thing. Has the Khadi movement found a new spin? What is in store for you?