The Circular Design Challenge is India’s first sustainability award in fashion

Of late, sustainability in fashion has been gaining more weightage rather than just being a mere buzzword. We’ve seen leading luxury labels ban fur and exotic animal skins from their collections in an attempt to address animal rights. And now, Reliance Industries Ltd’s R.Elan, Lakmé Fashion Week and the United Nations have joined hands to birth India’s first sustainability award in fashion—the Circular Design Challenge. With over 900 registrations from more than 30 cities, eight designers have been selected, one of which will take home the cash prize of Rs 20 lakh.

One detrimental impact of the fashion industry on the environment is the sheer amount of waste created by fashion houses and consumers alike. According to analytics from the UN Comtrade, India is the top importer of used clothes—clothes that would have otherwise ended up in landfill—that are broken down into yarn and then rewoven into fabric used to make blankets. Following a similar idea, the Circular Design Challenge tested the shortlisted designers on circular fashion—a concept that aims to reduce landfill waste and increase the longevity of clothes. “Our partnership with the UN in India and R. Elan’s Fashion for Earth initiative for the Circular Design Challenge is a step towards identifying and supporting champions in the field of sustainability,” explains Jaspreet Chandok, vice president and head of fashion at IMG Reliance.

The eight shortlisted designers—Aiman Sabri of Pozruh, Aman Singh of Bareek, Bhavya Goenka of IRO IRO, Poornima Pande and Stefano Funari of I Was A Sari, Kanika Ahuja of Lifaffa, Pooja Monga of Salpetre, Seerat Virdi of Miesu and Kriti Tula of Doodlage—all incorporated waste fabrics in their collections while also looking at the aesthetic quotient, business viability and value chain aspects.

“Total greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production, at 1.2 billion tonnes annually, are more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Creative approaches such as the Circular Design Challenge are a perfect opportunity to promote sustainable textile production and consumption, and accelerate sustainable development in general,” says Atul Bagai, UN Environment, country head, India.

“As a designer, I want to use the power of fashion to make eco cool,” says Aiman Sabri, who used discarded fabric from T-shirts and other cutting waste as well as techniques like eco-friendly dyeing in her collection. Poornima Pande and Stefano Funari of I Was A Sari upcycled used saris and added hand embroidery to create new products. On the other hand, Aman Singh of Bareek utilised waste plastic collected from beaches in Goa which were processed as PET fabric for his collection of shirts, an idea explored by Kanika Ahuja of Lifaffa as well as Salpetre’s Pooja Monga, both of whom used fabric made from recycled plastic in their collections.

“As designers, we have power to influence change, and realising that made me shift my practices to be more ethical,” says Seerat Virdi of Miesu, who incorporated fabrics like discarded cotton and organic silks in her collection, similar to Kriti Tula’s Doodlage, who included discarded lyocell fabric, recycled cotton and wool in her collection. “In 2018, we saved more than 6,000 metres of fabric from ending up in landfills, saved 4.6 million litres of water and reduced our carbon footprint by 18,000kgs,” says Tula. Meanwhile, Bhavya Goenka’s Iro Iro collection focussed on utilising an indigenous fibre, Aakh, grown without water in Rajasthan.

Every single designer showcased innovative sustainable techniques, but only one will bag the prestigious award and win a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh to build their brand. The winner will be announced on January 31, 2019 during Lakmé Fashion Week’s spring/summer edition.

Take a look at the shortlisted collections below: