World Environment Day 2025: June 5 is celebrated as World Environment Day every year. It is aimed to educate about environmental issues and encourage everyone to adopt eco-friendly actions to protect our planet Earth and move towards a more sustainable future. It is non-negotiable to remember that every choice leaves behind an environmental footprint, so collectively everyone needs to be conscious about what is being consumed everyday.
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Again, on a daily basis, habits need to actively shift for holistic betterment. In simple words, your outfit of the day (OOTD) carries a much more serious subtext than you realise.
What you wear is bigger than you, as fashion is closely connected to natural resource use, followed by consumption and waste. Personal style does carry a major environmental effect.
Sustainability should not remain as a complex theoretical jargon in policies and international conversations. For it to be implemented, it has to become a part of everyday habits- and that begins with what you wear.
In a conversation with HT Lifestyle, Jabir Karat, founder and CEO of Green Worms Waste Management Pvt. Ltd., shared how everyday fashion habits can help reduce waste. Adding to the narrative, Henry Skupniewicz, head of Godrej Design Lab, Godrej Enterprises Group, further explained why sustainability must begin from the design stage itself. This means choosing better materials, considering how long a product can be used, repaired and responsibly discarded.
How to reduce fashion waste?
From the hot mob wife aesthetic, with heavy faux fur coats and animal prints, to the quiet death of clean-girl minimalism with the resurgence Zara Larsson-esque hypermaximalist 2016 fashion, trends come and go like tides.
But it is important to not chase every trend blindly. Every wardrobe refresh has irreversible consequences, adding to the mounting textile waste.
Jabir shared the extent of the textile waste crisis, saying, “Trends change rapidly, and clothing collections are replaced just as quickly. Without a systemic closed-loop for textiles, the environmental consequences are significant. Globally, around 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated globally per year, with India contributing over 7 million tonnes.”
Just as how trends change, clothes are also rapidly discarded, triggering a cycle of overproduction, labour exploitation and increasing pressure on already overburdened landfills. This makes it indispensable to adopt eco-friendly fashion habits. Jabir mentioned some practical ways you can reduce textile waste:
- Pause before buying: Do you actually need the new outfit? See if you can replicate it by upcycling, restyling or repairing the existing garment.
- Consider second-hand options: Thrifting is environment-friendly. Pre-owned, exchanged clothes reduce waste.
- Choose materials widely: Pay attention to fibre. Single-fibre garments are easier to recyle than blended fabrics.
- Go for natural fabrics: Plain, undyed, or lightly dyed natural fibres such as cotton and handloom fabrics are easier to reuse and recycle.
- Avoid garments that are tough to recycle: Polyester, synthetic coating, heavy printing and plastic embellishments can make recycling challenging.
- Rewear clothes: Repeat outfits to reduce fashion waste, very simple.
- Upcycle old textiles: Old clothes can be upcycled into bags, cushion covers, cleaning cloths and other utility-focused things.
- Dispose clothes mindfully: When you want to dispose clothes, send to textile collection, recovery or recycling facilities. Especially if it is hard to recycle, stop throwing them into regular waste.
While consumers can do their bit by repeating outfits and upcycling, designers also need to contribute by integrating sustainability right from the beginning of this design process. The decisions taken at the design stage are important, as they help decide whether a garment is really long-lasting, repairable, easier to recycle.
Sustainability begins at design stage
Henry described that designers are now focusing on sourcing, energy use, repairability, and long-term value. He said, “Rather than asking whether a material is sustainable, designers are beginning to ask broader questions. Where does the material come from? How much energy and processing are required before it reaches the final product? Can the product be repaired, adapted, or upgraded over time? What happens when it reaches the end of its useful life? Most importantly, will people continue to value and use it years from now?”
So what exactly does sustainability at the design stage look like in practice? Henry informed that many young designers and design-led enterprises are now experimenting with materials such as banana fibre, water hyacinth, cane, agricultural waste and reclaimed resources. So the design product has to reduce waste and ensure that the value stays intact for years.
You can still be stylish and sustainable in one breath, as the two are not mutually exclusive. A true diva is not who chases every trend, but know how to restyle, rewear, because these take real sartorial brain than blindly mimicking whatever you see on your feed.
