Zero-waste fashion has been the buzzword in the fashion industry in recent years. It is a part of the larger sustainable fashion movement. Fashion has always promoted innovation and change but there is a dire need to move away from fast fashion and develop a more sustainable and positive outlook toward fashion. Starting from textile scraps, leftover fabric, excess thread, and paper waste, there’s a lot that can be reduced, reused, and recycled when making garments. This is where zero-waste fashion comes in. it is by no means, a new discovery, but rather, a new philosophy. This locally sustainable design practice. challenges the existing methods of design and instead promotes a method where no fabric is wasted. (wasted fabric = wasted money and a wasted planet).
In this context, we shall look at a pioneering design studio from Kolkata, called LataSita, which is creating zero-waste and ethically produced fashion using a closed-loop supply chain. Run and operated by fashion designer Meghna Nayak, LataSita hunts down the fabric from diverse and sometimes out-of-the-blue sources— ranging from prized private heirloom collections to the wardrobes of everyday women and even a Durga Puja pandal. The studio’s focus is on the circular economy by using materials, which are old and off the beaten track. The majority of LataSita’s collection comes from sarees sourced directly from the wardrobes of women.
Naya’s work has received national and international recognition. They have been exhibited in Taiwan, Stockholm, England, Kenya, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka. She was selected from thousands of entries as one of three winners of the Scroll.in's Eco India contest and featured in Deutsche Welle’s Eco India show. This aired on television all across Europe and on Deutsche Welle internationally in 2019. It is available to watch online. Recently, she was invited to Stockholm and Utrecht to exhibit her work and talk about sustainable fashion.
In 2021, LataSita was invited to Lakme India Fashion Week to participate in the Circular Design Challenge on Sustainable Fashion Day, in association with the United Nations, United Nations Environmental Programme, and the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI).
You can find out more about LataSita here.
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