While using fashion to express one is great, doing so at the cost of environmental wellbeing doesn’t seem sensible. Workers of fast fashion are exploited and underpaid, animals are injured, and the overall process is also harmful to the environment.
To combat this, ‘ethical fashion’ was born. It includes ethical design; production, by focusing on good working conditions and fair trade; and sustainability, among other concerns. Sustainable fashion is a philosophy, and growing movement, towards environmentally friendly fashion. It pays attention to and manages the human impact on the environment for fashion, allowing for indefinite production, in harmony with nature. Here’s how it does that:
- Provides workers with humane rights and working conditions
- Discourages and reduces the use of chemicals, using natural dyes
- Uses eco-friendly fabrics
- Saves water
- Champions recycling and use of sustainable energy sources
- Acts as a guardian for animal rights
With this in mind, here are a list of sustainable Indian fashion brands that you can support:
No Nasties
An organic, fair trade, vegan clothing brand with free shipping throughout India. Every time they sell a product online, get a new email signup and every new day they are still in business, they plant a new tree, in their No Nasties Grove. Their products include a full range of clothes for women, kids, and men.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonasties/
Website: https://www.nonasties.in/
Upasana
This conscious fashion brand, a unit of Auroville, is on a mission to change lives. They look at social problems, from post-tsunami trauma to farmer suicides and from garbage and littering to plastic bags usage, and creatively use design to solve these problems. Their products include the entire range of women’s clothing and accessories.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upasanaindia/
Website: https://www.upasana.in/
Ka-Sha India
This shop is a division of Change by Design, brainchild of co-founders Karishma Shahani Khan and Wasim Khan. Ka-Sha uses natural fibres and aims at a zero-waste campaign called Heart to Haat, all in a bid to be more sustainable. They celebrate the roots of India, and firmly express their love for handcrafts. They sell women’s clothing and accessories, from sarees to dresses and scarves.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ka_sha_india/
Website: https://www.ka-sha.com/
Doodlage
They focus most importantly on upcycling and recycling old clothes, reusing resources as fashion evolves, and trying to achieve zero waste. They work to spread awareness and even experiment with fabrics like cotton polyester, corn, eucalyptus and banana fabrics. Their products include men and women’s clothes and accessories.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doodlageofficial/
Website: https://www.doodlage.in/
Other brands to check out:
BhuSattva: https://www.instagram.com/thepotplantclothing/
Eka (simple shapes custom-woven): https://www.instagram.com/ekaco/
Grassroot by Anita Dongre: https://www.instagram.com/anitadongregrassroot/
Mishe: https://www.instagram.com/mishethelabel/
The Pot Plant: https://www.instagram.com/thepotplantclothing/
Red Sister Blue (uses khadi): https://www.instagram.com/redsisterblue/
Brass Tacks (natural and hand-woven fabrics): https://www.instagram.com/brasstacksindia/
Ethicus (hand-woven, sustainable sarees): https://www.instagram.com/ethicus.in/
11:11: https://www.instagram.com/1111clothing/
Do You Speak Green?: https://www.instagram.com/douspeakgreen/
Forty Red Bangles: https://www.instagram.com/fortyredbangles/
Brown Boy: https://www.instagram.com/shopbrownboy/
House of Wandering Silk: https://www.instagram.com/wanderingsilk/
