Sustainable fashion is becoming popular and one of the best ways to clinch a sustainable wardrobe is to upcycle your clothing. When it comes to designers, they take things one step further by using upcycled materials to create gorgeous pieces. This is what’s been happening in India.
In 2013, upcycling was seen as a solution to the growing problem of waste in India. As the BBC reported, India produces over 55 million tonnes of solid waste every year, which will just get worse with time. The idea of upcycling hit the scene, inspiring people to transform waste into new items. Now it’s also becoming popular in fashion.
Kriti Tula, a designer based in Delhi, has been going to factories and picking up interesting and discarded items she can later use in her creations, such as fabric or thread that’s been rejected. In an interview with Verve magazine, Tula said her aim is to ‘flawlessly blend fabric waste to create sought-after fashion. I want to create one-of-a-kind pieces which become wardrobe essentials and are wearable art.’ Her label is called Doodlage and it contains clothing made from re-used fabrics to create individual and unique pieces while fighting against the disastrous effects of fast fashion.
Another cool designer worth watching is Karishma Shahani. She’s a graduate from the London College of Fashion and has been using recycled elements from her very first collection for her brand called [Ka] [Sha], and they include awesome things: plastic sacks that became jackets, sneakers that were hand-sewn onto stilettos and glass from chandeliers that became jewellery.
Going Back to Basics
Of course, in order to get into the habit of upcycling clothing, we first need to have eco-friendly clothing as a foundation. These items are healthier for the environment from the start of their production all the way to their daily or weekly wear, and can later be upcycled, even if people aren’t designers and do it themselves at home. This keeps the flow of fashion running in an eco-friendly and exciting way. That’s why green fashion brands are so important as a starting point. Based in India, No Nasties is an example. It’s an organic fashion brand with the goal to establish an ethical fashion movement in India by producing 100 percent organic cotton clothing.
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