Coming to a closet near you: A wardrobe from waste


From shirts made of beach trash to swimwear made from fishing nets, fashion is dumping synthetics for more sustainable alternatives

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 sustainable 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 zero-waste 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.....Read more
 
Source web page: Times of india

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