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Sustainable, ethical practices: The beating heart of fashion
On the occasion of Earth day, designers say sustainability can’t merely be a marketing gimmick but has to be the beating heart of the production process of every design house in the future in the post-pandemic world
Sustainable clothing, organic sartorial wave, relentless upcycling and recycling to create eco conscious pieces have been the core values of some design houses in India and internationally. As we envision a post pandemic future, one could easily deduce that there can’t be a future which doesn’t celebrate these values. Sustainability can’t merely be a marketing gimmick but has to be the beating heart of the production process of every design house in the future.
In India, many designers are going back to the grassroot level and using organic fabrics, natural dyes and upcycling as these would be the only fashion tool to combat environmental crisis as the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world. “For me sustainability is lifestyle. And that’s how it should be. Sustainability is not only about reducing the use of synthetic fibres and dyes but also reuse and repeat what we have. We can’t go 100% sustainable at times, like a down-filled jacket, we don’t have anything to substitute for that and hence we should use it to the fullest before giving it away,” says designer Rina Singh who believes high-street fast fashion companies should start by reducing the carbon footprint.
Designer Vaishali S says, lesser and stronger collections are the future of fashion. “It is time to stop production and focus on reusing and redesigning. Collections that will be produced should be with clarity and mindfulness, hence fewer collections with stronger messages will be seen. Hopefully, we will go back to each designer coming with his/her own personal message and research, and season after season digging into it, rather than just creating diverse subjects to have something new to propose every season. We have been practitioners of sustainability since the inception of our label. Hence, we will continue with our zero-waste ideology and share our knowledge with more people so we can create a community that together helps to combat this and protect our only planet,” says designer Vaishali S whose recently launched store has been designed keeping in mind recycling waste- old doors and windows that were thrown have been re-designed for it. To this, agrees designer Amit Aggarwal who believes one should only create if there is need. “Create more only if there is a need. We will focus on realigning processes to reduce wastage and work closely with what we have. Also, strengthening the craftsman by constantly reinventing traditional techniques with conscious materials would be our focus.” says Aggarwal.
The idea of reducing carbon footprint is something we don’t expect to be hoisted at a fashion week, however it did, internationally as designers created sustainable runways. Dior planted more than 100 trees on their spring summer 20 runway, which were bound for community gardens after the show. “Dior’s ephemeral set is entirely recyclable, plastics-free and uses trees that will journey on to a second life in and around Paris!,” wrote the fashion house headed by Maria Grazia Chiuri on social media. Last year, in Milan, Missoni handed out little solar powered sun lights by Olafur Eliasson during their show. At Saint Laurent, the generators required to run the 414 spotlights that speckled the show were powered by biofuels. At Louis Vuitton, the plywood used to make the runway was bound for recycling post the show. Rolling back to India, the fashion week organised by the Fashion Design Council of India has always made efforts to emboss eco-friendly fashion in today’s time. They started off - a few seasons back - with special sustainable shows and days that commenced the week-long event. Designers believe to make fashion weeks more sustainable we should go digital. “Fashion weeks in Indian are on a smaller scale as compared to the western ones so we save there. However, in future, fashion weeks should be digitalised, one can register online and watch, they don’t have to take a flight and come all the way. Also, expanding the reach of sustainable designers is important. This way an ethically produced product can reach the buyer - and not a hoax one - at a better price and this would help generate employment to those in clusters and at the ground level. Rather than funneling up the pyramid and making products in lakhs that a person will wear once, we should cater to the other end,” explains designer David Abraham.
