Sustainable, Upcycled And Repurposed: The Future Of Fashion In India

Indian brands and designers are going back to their roots to embrace khadi and are giving the highly eco-friendly, handspun fabric a makeover. One such brand on the list is Anuprerna, an artisanal sustainable textile brand, based in the Burdwan district of West Bengal.

Anuprerna was founded in 1983 with the mission to support and empower rural artisans, promote and preserve East India's traditional crafts and textiles and the use of natural and sustainable fabric, and make them accessible to the world. Amit Singha, Founder of Anuprerna, decided to spearhead his father's business to create a sustainable and eco-friendly global brand.

Anuprerna is engaged in offering an exclusive array of scarves, stoles and garments made out of natural fibres like Khadi linen and Ahimsa silk. The brand also specialises in a variety of hand weaving and printing techniques like Jamdani, Shibhori, hand painting, and block and screen printing with natural vegetable dye.

The latest addition to Anuprerna's list is Khadi denim. Khadi denim is made by the handspun process of Khadi in which natural fibres are handspun to form yarns which are then handwoven on the handloom to create the Khadi fabric. Being a completely manual process, there is no consumption of electricity or fuel. Also, the process doesn't involve any chemicals or harmful substances like bleach or any synthetic dyes.

Another brand that is working towards sustainable fashion is Dwij. Founded by Soumya Annapurna Kalluri, a mechanical engineer, Dwij addresses everything that is wrong with fast fashion by providing inclusive growth of society, through upcycling.

Through her startup, Soumya has been able to upcycle more than 6,000 pairs of denim into fashionable bags, accessories, clutches, and items of daily utility. Denim was Soumya's first choice because of its durability, as compared to other fabrics.

Dwij purchases used jeans and post-industrial cut-offs from manufacturing units. Following this, these go to the industrial washers for washing and are ironed. Once they reach Dwij's workshop, depending on the size and shape they are cut into the required dimensions and then bags are made out of them.

Once the bags are manufactured, Soumya and her design team make sure to fully utilise the leftover bits and pieces generated during the creation of the products by making accessories or jewellery.

Dwij wants to be known as a brand that encourages upcycling, where people are happy to upcycle.

There are a growing number of businesses and individuals that are working hard to revolutionise the fashion industry by developing sustainable alternatives while keeping ethical and sustainable concerns in mind. Ishita Aggarwal is one such individual, an artist known for her unconventional and imaginative approach.

Ishita specialises in customising old sneakers and clothes. The sneakers are hand painted with waterproof paint making them perfect for any occasion.

Though Ishita may have just started, her talent with the brush has already caught a fair bit of attention with people asking her to paint their old sneakers. One needs to give her enough information on the kind of design they want on their shoes for her to create the pair of one's dreams.

Anything can be a canvas for our imaginations and in this case, it just happens to be old sneakers. By repurposing them, you can do your bit in keeping old sneakers out of landfills.