Indian designers are taking to upcycling; reusing discarded materials for new creations and taking the sustainable fashion movement a step forward
When you spot a new creation on the runway, there’s a lot you take in. An inventive use of local fabric here, intricate embroidery there. But often, you overlook the process that led to the finished product. For Delhi-based designer Kriti Tula, it’s this process that is most interesting. When other designers are busy sketching out their designs, Tula is visiting the factories of export houses, picking up sample strips, reject fabric, stray buttons and leftover thread, all production waste, to put together her next collection. “It’s almost like a puzzle, you sit with each piece and decide what you want to do with it,” she says.
Indian designers are ingeniously using leftover material for their creations
Karishma Shahani’s label, [Ka] [Sha], is centred around sustainability; she had woven in recycled plastic in her designs (Vaishnav Praveen)For the upcycle offshoot of her label Péro, Aneeth Arora often enhances old denim jackets with beadwork, embroidery, applique and patchwork