◊ By Vidhi Hamirwasia

Visit ORGANIC SHOP by Pure & Eco India

The textile industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, producing nearly 20% of all freshwater pollution.

This calls for us to switch to more sustainable and ethical practices in fashion. Ethical fashion includes design, production, retail, and purchase. It covers a range of ethical issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment and animal welfare.

FAST FASHION

Delve into your mother’s closet and you will discover lots of hidden treasures—decades-old sarees, heirloom jewellery, and embroidered dupattas woven in rich golden threads. In the world of fashion, old is gold.

But alas, the consumer pattern has devolved over the years, from utilising a single piece of clothing multiple times in different ways to discarding a garment one buys from a fast-fashion brand after just 3 washes.

Fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara release new collections every three to four weeks, luring customers to purchase new items of clothing, whether they need them or not. People tend to forget that low-cost, trendy outfits are not sustainable and, in many cases, are products of labour exploitation.

ARE BRANDS REALLY CONSCIOUS?

In 2009, H&M launched its sustainable style section called ‘H&M Conscious’ with the idea of creating great fashion at the best price in a sustainable way.

H&M has also pledged to become entirely climate-positive by 2040 by using renewable energy and increasing energy-efficiency across all its operations. But are they really what they claim to be? Or is it a marketing tool to make customers believe they’re buying sustainable garments?

The information H&M provides on its website about its conscious collection is somewhat limited.

Other brands like Zara and Inditex have also come up with their own sustainable collections but have fallen short in providing transparency to customers regarding the production process of the same.

THE PRICING PROBLEM

Brands like 11:11, Alternative Apparel and Upasana have stepped up their sustainability game by using recycled materials, organic cotton and natural dyes.

Oliver Cabel and Everlane provide their markup process for each garment and display factory details to offer transparency to customers.

But a major drawback with these brands is their pricing. Their pricing is at a range which is inaccessible to a large segment of society. This increases their market competition with brands like Shein and Lulu & Sky, which sell clothes of the latest trends at less than half the price.

Why would a customer buy the same kind of clothing for INR 11,000 when they can get a similar garment for INR 700?

Hence, the need to make the general population aware about what goes behind the making of a single item of ethical clothing, and how it impacts the people who made it, as well as, the planet.

SHIFT TO THRIFT

The idea of thrifting has evolved through the years. Taking the world of social media by storm, online thrift stores have become prevalent, making it easy for people to access fashion online.

Many look at thrift stores as an alternative to fast fashion brands and a way to finding rare, vintage and pre-loved items. Instagram stores like Bombay Closet Cleanse, Shop Truce and Lulu Thrift are a must if one is inclined towards Instagram thrifting.

But thrift shopping is not for everyone. The need to wear branded clothes to display one’s socio-economic status prevents many from shifting to thrift culture.

Furthermore, the limitation in stock and sizes also deters customers.

If not for these issues, thrift culture would have been a great gateway to ethical fashion.