Designer Anuj Bhutani, 28, is busy at work at his Hauz Khas studio in New Delhi, fine-tuning designs on the drawing board. The mood board is ready, and so is the colour palette — beige, grey and black with a flourish of orange. What he’s waiting for are fine swatches of recycled woollen fabric that will travel from Gujarat to be converted into trench coats, jump suits, biker jackets and more, for a contemporary and sustainable unisex line.
Before they were given a new lease of life, the bolts of fabric with a graceful fall and drape, soft to the touch and with a subtle sheen, came to the Gujarat factory of Mumbai-based Geetanjali Woollens in compressed, multi-coloured bales of used sweaters and throws from the US and countries in Europe. Once tailored, they will feature at Sustainable Fashion Day on August 17 at St Regis Hotel, Mumbai, as part of Lakme Fashion Week.
New collections
Noted designer Anita Dongre, who recently opened a store in New York and has a second coming up there has been dabbling with sustainable fashion through her brand, Grassroot. Her Broome Street store will showcase designs that celebrate Indian crafts and indigenous industries. Her Fall collection also features eco-wool.
Before we get to understanding what eco-wool is, it is time to answer one basic question. What is the cost of putting virgin wool on store shelves? Not, financials, but the cost that the Earth bears — the water used (8,000 to 10,000 litres to clean 100 kilograms of wool), polluting dyes and the elaborate processes? That’s something those propagating the use of recycled and, more recently, upcycled wool want people to think about. Though recycled wool has been in use for decades now, it has now acquired new sheen. With sustainable fashion becoming a buzz word, little wonder designers, design houses and retail brands are looking at creating fashion with an eye on the future of the planet.
Speaking about the eco-jackets and trousers in her line to be launched in a few months, Dongre says that it was a natural progression, because she has “always believed in living with compassion. None of my collections have ever used leather. For Grassroot, it was important to have a collection in wool, given our presence in New York. And, we worked with recycled wool to achieve this”.
The biggest challenge she faced was sourcing the material. “As for the fabric, it is not really very different from virgin wool after being processed, and I see myself using more of it.”
Going overseas
Deepak Goel of Geetanjali Woollens, which also has a factory at Ethiopia in Africa, deals with 100% eco-wool, in the form of yarn, fabric and blankets, all of which are meant for export. “Internationally, everyone is conscious about eco-friendly products, and we work with several high-street fashion brands.”
The company, which manufactures 1.2 million metres of fabric and 4,500 tonnes of yarn a year in India, also supplies to major home textile retailers in the US and Europe. But, despite the promising possibilities, there’s not been much interest by Indian retail brands or designers, barring the LFW Sustainable collection. “To make it work, we need numbers. It helps that in Europe, they are working towards allocating 20 % of shelf space for sustainable textiles.” That’s where the throws and fabric head to as finished products. This is besides the blankets that fall in both the high-end and ‘relief’ categories (for use by international aid agencies during natural calamities and strife).
Green tag
Sachin Khanna of Amritsar Swadeshi Textile Corporation says upcycled wool deserves more popularity since it keeps tonnes of usable garments out of landfills. “For instance, if we get 100 kilograms of used wool, we can salvage close to 90 kilograms of it. It is good for the Earth to put the wool back into circulation. There’s negligible amount of water used, little or no dyeing needed (that too, using AZO-free dyes), and that’s a lot of pollution avoided.” Upcycled wool costs anywhere between ₹275 and ₹290 a metre, and a woollen blanket costs ₹600. Adds Khanna, whose company supplies to UNICEF, International Red Cross and Carrefour, among others: “Since I studied in Coimbatore and saw the effect of dyes in Tirupur, we also put in place a zero liquid discharge plant in Amritsar.”
Goel says he’d love to sell within his country. But, that will happen only when the Government comes up with pro-recycling policies and Indian retailers understand the concept of upcycling. “They still wonder what the public will say. In India, recycling still means second-hand! Which is why if an upcycled woollen throw costs ₹1,000 and a virgin wool one ₹1,500, people wonder why the fuss over ₹500? That must change, and it must come from retailers; they must educate customers.”
Brands must also flaunt the eco-friendly tag with pride. Dongre, whose range launches in a few months (priced around ₹20,000), says she’s very interested to see the response from clients. Bhutani is waiting too.
