Come summer, and everyone’s on the lookout for fresh and breathable fabrics. With the soaring mercury playing a spoiler, we aren’t refuting the importance of stacking up on airy organics. The sweltering heat aside, is natural fashion the way forward? With designers going the extra mile cutting down on the carbon footprint on the environment at every stage, and giving their thumbs up to an anti-fast fashion movement, we dig deeper about the fast-emerging trend that sustainable fashion is.
AN EVOLUTION IN THE MAKING
“Environmental and economic sustainability is something I feel strongly about – perhaps because hand-crafted textiles instilled in me an appreciation for slow-fashion and the craftsmen who make them. As far as the future of fashion goes, I think sustainability is something that the world will be forced to consider. We’re running out of resources, and the wealthy have become more evolved as a culture. It has become less about consuming frequently and replacing old clothes, and more about investing in quality, timeless pieces. Since this is still new territory in the fashion and consumer world, I think the world (both producers of fashion as well as consumers) will take some time to figure out various price points and trade-offs for different segments of the market. Ultimately, even sustainable fashion has to be affordable to some extent in order to have a real impact on the environment, otherwise it just remains a product for the elite,” says Anaka Narayanan, a city-based designer who runs Brass Tacks, a sustainable clothing venture. She adds, “I grew up surrounded by handloom textiles and I developed a certain association with them and an affinity for them that’s close to my heart. My relationship with textiles is, admittedly, very sentimental. I work with all-natural and hand-crafted textiles primarily because I think they are beautiful, classy, and interesting. It so happens that they are better for the environment, they sustain a skill, and they provide employment.”
WORK WEAR APPROPRIATE?
Enthusing how making the switch to natural fabrics on a daily basis is feasible, Natasha Tyagi, a city based designer, Ekzora, adds, “This trend is an anti-fast fashion movement, where designers are taking the time into creating classics that are not only earth friendly but also live longer in your closet as against the mass market fast fashion available for much cheaper though hardly sustainable. Designers today are aware of this, and hence, are reinventing ways to incorporate the idea into dailywear collections. It’s not a silhouette-centric concept. Anything can be made out of organic natural fabrics – including your formal tops and trousers. While picking sustainable fashion one must find out more about the work behind the garment, ask your designer how this garment was born, that’s the true beauty of what you wear. Designers are no longer just selling a colour or a cut, they are now selling a story which start with the moral principle of least damage to our environment while creating fashion in harmony with nature.”
CHANNEL A DESI VIBE
Opining how growth in this stream will not only help create more awareness, Srijata Bhatnagar, a city-based designer who works with only sustainable fabrics concludes, “The country is growing exponentially in terms of organic industries. I totally believe in sustainable fashion mainly because of three reasons. It gives livelihood to local weavers and artisans, it has the potential to curb long lasting side effects of fast fashion and it also helps customers save money in the long run. It’s time designers take the responsibility to spread awareness around sustainable fashion.”
