The fashion industry in India is booming. The sector is projected to be worth $106 billion by 2026, fueled by e-commerce and a rush of international brands targeting India’s burgeoning middle class. Meanwhile, the country’s textile and apparel exports have reached record levels this year.
But as people splurge on clothes and the world’s second-largest textile maker ramps up production, the environmental impact of India’s fashion trade has begun to draw attention. An estimated one million tons of textiles are thrown away in India each year, and the industry is one of the country’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
“There is a growing sense of ecological responsibility that drives people to make more planet-friendly choices,” says Aadya Singh, a fashion student at the University of Delhi. “Green and eco-friendly fashion was a strange concept a few years ago, but now the most reputable international brands have labels that claim to be 100% driven by sustainability. This reflects the social change in the apparel sector as we see more brands embracing sustainability.”
Fashion industry insiders say the idea of eco-friendly fashion started to take hold in India around 2015, but took off in a big way around the time of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when growing environmental awareness began. to influence purchasing decisions. Consumers have become more aware and increasingly want to buy brands that are longer lasting, higher quality and less impactful. Fashion entrepreneurs have responded by creating bespoke clothing ranges with a sustainable mindset.
Kriti Tula, co-founder of Doodlage, an online fashion line that uses factory waste and recycled material for its handmade garments, says that sustainable fashion means more than choosing the right material. “We started with the upcycling of the waste discarded by the factories. We use that material to create well finished products and save tons of resources that go into creating virgin material. As we’ve grown, we’ve started looking at our packaging, finding partners who could provide us with recycled material, and now we’re looking to create a clothing collection system and partner with greener last-mile delivery partners,” she said. Her company also works with NGOs to find factories with fair wages.
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Fashion is cheaper at scale. Most sustainable brands remain niche.
Kriti Tula, co-founder of Doodlage
The Tula company analyzes the entire production process to ensure that it is credibly sustainable; from the use of natural materials such as organic cotton, bamboo, linen to recycled polyester, to working with artisan weavers to boost local employment and promote traditional crafts and techniques, some of which have been losing relevance.
Neha Khabra is the founder of Maati, an ethical fashion brand based in Udaipur, Rajasthan, that draws inspiration from local communities to produce skin-friendly clothing using natural products, woven by local artisans. “The raw materials we obtain are mainly organic cotton and natural fibers. We work with many weavers in West Bengal and Kutch, Gujarat. They use traditional hand looms to weave cloth, an ancient technique that has been passed down for at least 10 generations. We make sure the printing techniques we use are chemical-free and use natural dyes like turmeric,” she said.
No Nasties, a Goa-based sustainable fashion line, claims that every product a consumer buys is “planet positive” as trees are planted after each sale. The brand uses 100% organic cotton, a local supply chain to save water and carbon emissions, and offsets unavoidable emissions through solar, wind and reforestation projects. “We would love to see more effort from all companies, not just sustainable brands, to minimize and offset the carbon footprint of their products. If all brands did this, if every purchase was positive for the planet, we could turn consumerism on its head and turn it into a force for good,” says No Nasties founder Apurva Kothari.
Sustainable fashion may be booming in India, but the market is still very specific. “There are around 70 Indian brands in this sector at the moment. It is still a small market and the price is usually 20-30 percent higher. [than regular brands],” says Maati founder Kabra.
Kriti Tula agrees. “Fashion is cheaper at scale. Most sustainable brands remain niche, as economies of scale are more difficult to achieve. Sustainable fashion focuses on classic styles and pieces rather than fast-changing trends. They are more individualistic and focus on craft skills and well-finished products rather than making clothes wear out faster. For fashion to be a sustainable scale, we all need to focus on buying better and buying less,” she said.
Kothari added that the future of sustainable fashion is all about transparency and accountability. “Where is the clothing produced? Who made them and what are they made of? What impact do they have on the climate?” Kothari said.
Shoppers, however, aren’t shy about spending more on an eco-friendly option, embracing sustainability as an emerging fashion statement. A June study by Bain, a consultancy, found that 62 per cent of Indian consumers are now more willing to spend more on sustainable items and sustainability is among the top five purchase criteria.
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as eco-fashion. Then a friend gave me a hand-woven cotton saree from Kochi. The fabric was incredibly soft and when I contacted the seller, he told me that the fabric was made from sustainable organic cotton with intricate hand-woven thread work. Since then, I have been researching more sustainable brands and am amazed at how many options we have to choose from,” says Vrinda Mathur, an IT professional from Delhi.
It will take a wide range of eco-friendly products to appeal to Indian consumers with fat wallets, or else India’s clothing boom could put more landfills under pressure. Per capita spending on apparel in India is expected to rise from Rs 3,900 (US$48) in 2018 to Rs 6,400 (US$79) by 2023, according to a McKinsey report.
Source: news.google.com