Crafting a Greener Future: How India and UK are Together Fuelling Sustainable Fashion Growth

The global fashion industry faces a sustainability crisis, with 100 billion garments produced yearly, 87 per cent ending in landfills. Initiatives like SU.RE and New Landscapes foster collaborations to reduce environmental impact, while artisans innovate with eco-friendly practices. Policies, circular economy, and EPR are vital for a sustainable future.

Recently a photo of a IIT Mumbai Professor wearing a torn sock¹ made headlines. Its virality perhaps stemmed from the fact that it was shot at a five-star hotel and the wearer was an academician of stellar credentials. The banter of the trolls that followed was silenced by the Professor’s rather profound response – “I need to replace them, and I can afford to. But nature cannot.”  His is a rare voice in a world that feverishly follows ultrafast fashion and micro trends; one that is unable to discern need from want and is slave to impulse buying. Today, people are buying and discarding clothes at a pace so frantic that it is unnerving.

Pegged at $1.7 trillion², the global fashion industry spews out 100 billion³ new garments each year and 87 per cent³ of those end up in landfills. Some of them are barely worn seven times². Just pause for a moment to imagine a truckload of textiles being dumped or incinerated every second⁴. Accounting for nearly 10 per cent of annual global emissions and 20 per cent of the world’s industrial water pollution⁵, the fashion, apparel and textiles industries need a makeover to be able to respond to climate crisis.

Given the magnanimity and the global nature of the challenge, more collaborations such as SU.RE (Sustainable Resolution) must be forged. Serving as a conduit for collaboration with like-minded organisations across the UK, Denmark and beyond⁶, the initiative, by UN India, Indian Ministry of Textiles, and Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), has a host of leviathans as signatories who have voluntarily committed⁷ to making a significant percentage of their supply chains sustainable by 2030.

Another initiative, New Landscapes⁸, led by the University of Arts London (UAL) Fashion, Textiles, and Technology Institute (FTTI) and the British Council, is supporting collaborations in sustainable fashion between SMEs in India and the UK. Through sharing of sustainable practices and supporting the cultural, social, and environmental values of the fashion and textiles sector in both countries, the programme is incubating six very innovative partnerships in its first phase. ‘Post Carbon Lab,’ UK and ‘True Tone Ink India,’⁹ for example, have together developed 14 industry-ready sustainable, regenerative, and environmentally sustainable dye shades. This outcome can indeed lead the textile industry to engage with alternative to carbon-intensive, non-biodegradable and hazardous synthetic dyes and processes that use high volumes of water.

Fabric dyeing reportedly consumes an estimated five trillion litres of water⁵ each year globally. Worse still, dyeing one ton of polyester generates 30 tons of toxic wastewater⁵. The traditional artisan communities too can play a crucial role here. The artisan communities are closely connected to the environment and rely on natural resources for their crafts; hence their indigenous knowledge can provide valuable lessons in eco-friendly alternatives, responsible production, and nature-based solutions. Precisely why, Crafts in the Times of Climate Crisis¹⁰, a report showcased at COP28, urges governments world over to restructure climate finance to support the growth of these communities and make them resilient.

These artisan communities are also finding new, innovative ways to stay sustainable and relevant while keeping their age-old traditions and techniques alive. Skilled weavers in Varanasi are making a shift from ornate brocade work on heavy silks to minimalistic designs on lighter fabrics. The Kanjeevaram silk sarees, handcrafted from pure mulberry silk threads, are also being reinvented similarly. Fostering international knowledge exchange of such grassroot level innovations that are sustainable, climate-neutral, and resource efficient must be prioritised.

An enabling policy framework has been highly instrumental in this regard. The development of seven Pradhan Mantri Mega Integrated Textile Region ​and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks¹¹; implementation of Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector¹² (SAMARTH) to address the shortage of skilled workers in the sector; of Silk Samagra-2 to improve the quality and production of raw silk; and the National Handloom Development Programme, are just a few examples. Khadi and Village Industries turnover crossing ₹1.5 lakh crore (~$18 billion) and the demand for Khadi fabrics increasing by 500 per cent¹³ in the last decade are testimonial that progress is being made in the right direction.

Fashion can afford to have a future only if the global fashion industry collectively adopts sustainable practices in every part of its value chain to tap the high circularity potential of the industry. ‘Conserve India’ and ‘Khamir’ from India are collaborating with UK’s ‘Khadi London’ and ‘Where Does it Come From’⁹ to incorporate circular economy principles into the khadi sector. Several other such collaborative projects are instrumental, but to create change at an institutional level a lot more needs to be done. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a critical cog in the wheel of sustainable fashion and legislation should be enacted to make it mandatory for the producers to take accountability of the end-of-life consequences of their products. Given the cross-border trade flows and global supply chains, an international mandate must be urgently pressed into action. Brands must also be encouraged to adopt ESG strategies.

Failure to act today will lead to dire consequences in the future. Studies have warned that the fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions will surge over 50 per cent by 2030¹⁴ and global consumption of apparels will cross 100 million tons in the next five years¹⁴. It is time for sustainability conversations and global collaborations to occupy centre stage in the fashion world. The fashion narrative needs to be rescripted, and consumers, designers, artisans, and policymakers must play their respective roles in defining the same.