Sustainability and circularity are the two important buzzwords today, only to have gained more traction since the pandemic hit us last year. This case study involving Allahabad-based sustainable fashion brand Let’s Save As shows how the brand is practising ethical sourcing and sustainable production by turning scraps discarded from factories into new unique products.

Fashion industry is considered to be the second most contributor to global wastage. Unsustainable manufacturing, exploitation of resources, material wastage and unethical ways to treat labours are some of the undesirable practices followed by the garment/fashion industry. However, in recent times, consumers have become more aware about the environmental and social damages caused by overexploitation of resources by the fashion industry, which has directly influenced their purchase decision and made them turn towards sustainable fashion. The need of the hour for garment manufacturers and designers is to confirm to sustainable practices and save the planet by reducing textile waste and pollution. Various international brands and independent designers have made sustainability and ethical fashion a central part of their operation. These brands connect to their consumers with transparency, stories and with their uniqueness.

As per estimates, 10 per cent of our country’s energy is consumed by apparel manufacturers that leads to increased carbon footprint as compared to other sectors. Although it will still take a long time to reduce the pollution caused by the garment industry, many Indian garment manufacturers have started to enforce sustainable practices in their supply chain. Indian designers, entrepreneurs and brands are working on concepts like 3R: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. With their innovative ideas, they are replacing the traditional linear model of production with circular economy model.

This case study involves an Allahabad-based sustainable fashion brand Let’s Save As, which was founded by National Institute of Fashion Technology Bhubaneshwar alumna Anshika Yadav in September 2020. This brand sells its products through its own online platform. It works on the sustainability concepts of upcycling, reusing and zero waste and creates unique and affordable products by prioritising environment friendly practices throughout the production process.

The brand focusses on limited editions rather than mass production. It targets people in the age group of 18-27, who are socially responsible, committed to preserving mother nature and care about quality as well as sustainability. Their product categories include womenswear, menswear, homewares and accessories made from left-over scrapes.

The zero-waste model minimises or discards waste right from the design stage of the garment. Though in a practical scenario, zero-waste is impossible to achieve, but waste generation can always be minimised. Keeping that in mind, the brand uses every scrap or end bits of fabric to create new designs with innovative ideas. As it believes in responsible sourcing -- it uses factory discards, existing defect materials from the market, old pieces of fabric etc and transforms them into new or better designs. It even utilises fabrics with minor flaws by repairing or removing the damage.

The COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown last year, saw many factories discarding many products as damaged or “waste”.  The brand took the opportunity and used these unwanted products to make new products out of them by either removing the defected parts or patterning them differently. The leftover materials were used for making accessories such as bags, earrings, belts, pouches, and aprons; the leftover threads or other smaller pieces were further used as fillings of mattress and cushions. The brand reduced the usage of leather and metals significantly by producing button belts.

To reduce fabric wastage, the brand produced generalised fit patterns which could fit a large variety of consumers. But again, not every consumer prefers to have relaxed or boxy fit garments. So, this is a major challenge the brand faced.

Various factors contribute to sustainable fashion being more expensive than fast fashion --usage of eco-friendly products, fair wage to workers, ethical souring, transparency etc are some of them. So it becomes difficult for sustainable brands to offer low priced products to the mass in a country like India. Taking affordability as a key parameter, the brand is focused on making sustainable products which are affordable. The price range of products vary from ₹500 to ₹3500. Instead of overproduction, the focus is on making ‘just enough’ so that it can sell every product and have minimum wastage. The procedure is given more importance than the design. By producing sustainable products that are the current trend, Let’s Save As intends to spread awareness among people to have a sustainable lifestyle.

The brand stresses on ethical working conditions. It assures that its clothes are eco-friendly and people friendly and practices this by allowing time slot selection to its workers to complete a specific task before the due date. Thus it hires part time workers or freelancers. As it is a slow-fashion brand, there is no pressure on the workers to work in a specific time period.

Small sustainable fashion brands in India like Let’s Save As are working ethically by keeping planet Earth in mind and adding value in terms of social and environment benefits. They are doing their bit to help reducing carbon footprints, benefitting the workers directly and producing sustainable and unique products at the same time.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Anshika Yadav, founder of Let’s Save As, for sharing her valuable inputs for the article.

References:

https://letssaveas.com/

Rissanen, T. I. (2013). Zero-waste fashion design: a study at the intersection of cloth, fashion design and pattern cutting (Doctoral dissertation).

Cassidy, T., & Han, S. L. (2013). Upcycling fashion for mass production. In Sustainability in fashion and textiles: Values, design, production and consumption (pp. 148-163). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Jacometti, V. (2019). Circular economy and waste in the fashion industry. Laws, 8(4), 27.

Gardetti, M. A. (2019). Introduction and the concept of circular economy. In Circular economy in textiles and apparel (pp. 1-11). Woodhead Publishing.