CLOTH WASTE MANAGEMENT

Textile and clothing recycling is a potentially

beneficial activity from environmental, social and
economic points of view, as opposed to landfilling or being
used for energy. As cities increasingly are diverting other
high volume waste streams such as organics, the
recycling of old clothes has been called the next frontier
for cities looking to reduce solid waste.
The main benefit of textile recycling activities is the
opportunity to reuse clothing. Through the reuse of clothes
and textiles, we can avoid pollution and energy-intensive
production of new clothing. Additionally, clothing that
cannot be reused may be repurposed into such products
as rags or recycled into fabric or other material for
reprocessing. As Greenpeace cautioned in a 2016 press
release, however, the "technological challenges mean full
recycling of clothing into new fibers is still far from
commercially viable." Even the recovery and sales of used
clothing has been a controversial topic, especially
for export to developing nations.
Following are some interesting facts about textile and
garment recycling:
1. More than 15 million tons of used textile waste is
generated each year in the United States, and the amount
has doubled over the last 20 years. In 2014, over 16
million tons of textile waste was generated, according to
the U.S. EPA. Of this amount, 2.62 million tons were
recycled,3.14 million tons were combusted for energy
recovery, and 10.46 million tons were sent to the landfill.
An average American throws away approximately 80
pounds of used clothing per person. On average,
nationally, it costs cities $45 per ton to dispose of old
clothing.Synthetic clothing may take hundreds of years to
decompose.
2. Only about 0.1% of recycled fiber collected by charities
and take back programs is recycled into new textile fiber.
3. Consumers are regarded as the main culprit for
throwing away their used clothing as only 15 percent of
consumer used clothing is recycled where more than 75
percent of pre-use clothing is recycled by the
manufacturers.
4. According to Greenpeace, global clothing production
doubled from 2000 to 2014. The average person buys 60
percent more items of clothing every year and keeps them
for about half as long as 15 years ago, generating a huge
amount of waste.
5. The average lifetime of a cloth is approximately 3 years.
6. Nearly 100 percent of textiles and clothing are
recyclable.
7. The annual environmental impact of a household’s
clothing is equivalent to the water needed to fill 1,000
bathtubs and the carbon emissions from driving an
average modern car for 6,000 miles
8. If the average life of clothing was extended by just
three months, it would reduce by five to ten percent their
carbon and water footprints, as well as waste generation.
The recycling of two million tons of clothing per year
equates to taking one million cars from U.S. streets.
9. More than 70 percent of the world's population uses
secondhand clothing. About 50 percent of collected shoes
and clothing is used as second-hand products. Meanwhile,
20 percent is used to produce polishing and cleaning
cloths for various industrial purposes and 26 percent is
recycled for applications such as fiber for insulation
products, upholstery, fiberboard, and mattresses.
10. The United States textile recycling industry removes
approximately 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles
each year from the waste stream and the industry creates
more than 17,000 jobs. Among this workforce, 10,000 are
semi-skilled employees employed in the primary
processing of used textile and the remaining 7,000
employees are employed in the final processing stage.
There are more than 500 garments recycling companies in
the USA and majority of these companies are owned and
operated by small and family businesses, each of which
employs 35 to 50 workers.
11. As per the Council for Textile Recycling, nearly one-
half of used clothing is given to charities by the general
public. Charities distribute and sell these clothing free of
charge or at low prices. And 61 percent of reusable and
recyclable textiles is exported to other countries.
All these facts indicate that textile recycling industry in the
United States has great potential to expand, given that 85
percent of used textiles still go to national landfills. The
next steps involve increased initiatives to promote
recycling, as well as harmonization of collection efforts.
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/textile-recycling-facts-
and-figures-2878122
Goods that were not recycled or reused translate into
about an $88 billion loss. That’s due to a loss in value and
resources that went into making them.

A worker arranges shirts at the Castro Goodwill in San

Francisco.
On the other hand, contributing to the secondhand
industry, helps to infuse money into the economy. The
industry employs nearly 100,000 workers and creates $1
billion in wages in the U.S. alone.
By extending the life cycle of secondhand clothing, the
reuse industry employs nearly 100,000 workers and
creates
$1 billion in wages in the U.S. alone.
There are numerous organizations that accept used
clothing and some are even willing to do the heavy lifting,
as the case is with the Pass the Bag project.
Schoola, a donation program, partnered with the Malala
Fund, the group that provides education for girls, to make
it super easy for people to donate clothes.
The project sends bags to donors, with prepaid postage,
to fill up and send back. Schoola sells the clothes and
donates the proceeds to the Malala Fund.
As of January, it had raised more than $103,000 for the
educational organization, according to TakePart.
“In the circular economy, everybody wins," the survey
added, "and the Earth doesn’t get trashed."

As the BBC reported, research collated by the Ellen

MacArthur Foundation suggests that global clothing
production has doubled in the past 15 years, with
garments on average being worn much less and discarded
quicker than ever before, and it is estimated that only 1%
of our clothing is ultimately recycled into new garments
because of the complexity in the polyester-type materials
used.
“We can offer simple, effective advice helping companies
to take practical steps to reduce waste to landfill, increase
recycling and manage costs with greater efficiency,” says
Robert. “We can also help communicate this throughout a
company, so that waste management can be explained
and understood easily and quickly.”
Source: WCRS Ltd.
https://scialert.net/fulltextmobile/?doi=jas.2005.1843.1849
https://www.recycling-magazine.com/2018/08/13/fashion-
industry-must-get-its-waste-management-in-order/
One of the factors that affects success is the level of
environmental quality and responsibility among
competing companies. Companies are now well aware
of the relationship between environmental quality and
prospects within the framework of economic
development [3] . Consumer demands that quide
companies now include certain environmental issues in
addition to quality, cost and production flexibility.
Demand for environmentally friendly products
manufactured under natural conditions from food
products to clothes has made companies more
sensitive to the environment. In his publication entitled
Environmental Quality and Our Responsibilities,
Apak[4] stated that companies having environmentally
friendly technologies and practices had a certain
advantage over their rivals on international markets.
It is possible to encounter quite a number of studies on
environmentally friendly production in textile and
apparel sector in the literature. In their article entitled
Ecology from Cotton to Garment, Ozdoğan et
al.[5] defined ecology in textile and mentioned products
manufactured using material and methods that pose no
harm to people and nature during the overall production
process and while the product is being used. In his
article entitled Ecological Labels and Ecological Textile
Products in the European Union, Ergün [6] dealt with
labels used in ecological textile products, while Koç and
Duru[7] studied methods of various analyses and tests in
their research entitled Eko-Tex Standard 100.
The present study deals with factors causing
environmental pollution in the textile and apparel sector
as well as responsibilities that should be assumed by
companies. For this purpose, priority was given to
issues such as environmentally friendly textile and
apparel production and ecological standards. Moreover,
sources of pollution at all stages of production and
possibilities of eliminating these factors were also
discussed.
Production ecology: Production should not cause any
harm to the environment and to humans during all
stages of manufacture, from the textile fibre to the
finished article. Causing no harm to the environment
does not only mean not polluting the soil, air and water,
but also covers reducing noise and using raw materials,
auxiliary products, water and energy consciously. What
is meant by causing no harm to humans is a number of
environmental and human health issues including
working conditions and working hours, refraining from
employing children and protecting pregnant workers
and new mothers.
Human ecology: It deals with the idea that clothes and
other textile products in close contact with human skin
should not cause any harm to people through physical
contact, respiration or digestion. The main objective of
human ecology was to determine whether any toxic
materials exist in a textile product taking into account
where it is used (children’s clothes-adult clothes,
underwear-outer garments, pillow cases, curtains) and
at what concentration these materials are found in a
product through a series of analyses.
Disposal ecology: This is concerned with the disposal
of discarded textile products using certain techniques
such as incineration, decomposition, accumulation
without posing any threats to people and the
environment. Due to the fact that the modern consumer
is especially concerned about human ecology and that
production ecology is complex, versatile and difficult to
screen, studies have focused on human ecology in
particular[9].
Based on both the environmental impact of textile
products and demands of the international market,
apparel companies have been trying to obtain a
certificate authorizing that their products have met the
parameters laid down by ecological standards. These
efforts for such a certificate mainly come from apparel
manufacturers themselves because they have to
account for the conformity of the goods and services
they buy in the manufacture of the final product to
ecological criteria [10].
An example to environmental standards on a regional
basis is the Eco Management and Audit Scheme
EMAS, which was set up by the European Union. The
international environmental management scheme is
called ISO 14000. This scheme was prepared by a
technical committee working on the issue of
Environmental Management within the framework of the
United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, held from June 3 through June 14 in
1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [11]. Environmental
Management Standards were prepared so as to control
the impact of textile production on the environment.
Companies are awarded internationally-accepted
references according to these standards that include
audit, determination of life cycle, environmental labeling
and environmental performance assessments.
The Eco-Tex 100 Standard, a normative document on
textile ecology, was issued by a group of 13 European
textile institutes [12]. According to those standards,
product classes include products with direct contact to
skin, textile products for babies, bed sheets-quilt
covers, home textiles and product without skin contact.
Then the test criteria were determined. Border values of
substances threatening human health as well as
various test techniques were also specified in the
standards. Companies that comply with these
requirements in their production processes are entitled
to obtain this standard label (Fig. 1). Clothes with direct
contact to skin, baby clothes, bed sheets and quilt
covers have more sensitive border values. Border
values of various chemical substances that are included
in the Eco-Tex 100 Standard are shown in Table 1[13].
Greenspot, which is a packaging scheme implemented
in recent years with the aim of protecting the
environment and CE Mark which is a European Marking
of Conformity, were both introduced as required
applications and also compelled manufacturers
exporting goods to the European Union member
countries to fulfill necessary requirements [14].
POLLUTING FACTORS DURING PRODUCTION
Each operational step that a raw textile material passes
through from the moment it enters a textile or apparel
establishment until it becomes a finished article is a
potential source of pollution.

Table 1: Criteria for Eco-Tex 100 standard

Odor test (no abnormal odor)

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF COMPANIES

Along with today’s consumer demands such as good
quality, low price and made-to-order clothes, the
concept of clean cloth has also emerged as an
important concept in textile production. This is related
to textile products that do not pollute the environment,
pose any problems to human health and violete the
social rights of employees who are supposed to work
under internationally accepted work and social
standards. Public reaction against clothes
manufactured by companies that fail to comply with
these requirements may affect the market share of
these companies negatively. For commercial customers
and manufacturers, this could discredit their trademarks
and cause sales to drop [17].
First of all, national legal directives pertaining to
protection of the environment must be implemented.
Contamination of underground water reservoirs and
drinking water by chemicals must be prevented and the
personnel responsible for storing and disposing these
chemicals must possess required qualifications. It
would be much better if the chemical waste is disposed
of by a specialized firm.
Chemical substances must not be mixed with other
waste materials.
Storing and burning wastes in open areas must be
prohibited.
Waste materials must be kept in safe areas in a way
that they would not pose any threat to employees. For
instance, keeping such waste in the corridors or on the
landings could block emergency exits, causing a safety
hazard.
Waste water must be treated at a waste water
treatment plant, liquid and solid oil must be passed
through separate filters. They must be emptied and
cleaned regularly and the contents must be disposed of
properly. Figure 2 shows chemical substances stored
under improper condition as they are stored in an open
area don’t have covers and the place is not a safe
storage area.
WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TEXTILE AND APPAREL
INDUSTRY
Wastes are generated during the following three stages
in the lifecycle of the product:

• Manufacture

• Usage

• Discarding the textile product as waste.

As a result of disdosal and discharge of waste materials

freely, hazardous substances in the waste contaminate
the soil; furthermore, this pollution can be carried down
through underground layers with the help gravitation.
Therefore, waste collection areas turn into chemical
reactors that cannot be controlled easily and these
uncontrolled piles of waste materials become potential
explosives. Rehabilitation of waste collection areas
requires funds reaching great dimensions. The sole
solution for discarded materials that cannot be recycled
in or outside the plant is to convert these materials into
heat energy and minimize the risks involved by means
of anti-leakage measures.
The 5R principle used in waste management can also
be applied to textile and apparel wastes. These can be
given briefly as follows:
• Reduce

• Reuse

• Recover

• Replace

• Recycle

Fabric wastes (Fig. 4) generated in textile and apparel

factories can be divided into 4 groups:
• Fabric type (woven fabric, knit fabric)

Fabric size (~ pieces of fabric larger or smaller than

• 40x40 cm)

Fabric content (% cotton, cotton + pes combination,

• wool combination, fabrics with lcyra)

• Fabric colour
 Chemical substances stored under improper
Fig. 2: condition

Fig. 3: Shoddy machine

 Fig. 4: Fabric wastes

Figure 3 shows the shoddy machine used in the

recycling processes in textiles, while Fig. 4 displays
fabric wastes made into bales in an apparel factory.
In order to increase sales of an apparel product and
make it more attractive to customers, a variety of smart-
looking materials and accessories are used in
packaging. Although it is known for a fact that
packaging materials and accessories are quite
important as part of successful sale strategies, it should
be kept in mind that some of these materials have
nothing to do with the functional use of the product. In
the end, these will be nothing but wastes and will have
to pass through certain recycling processes. Therefore,
it would be better to assess this matter with respect to
environmental protection and protection costs, do away
with packaging materials and accessories not related
with the functional use of product and develop new
techniques to increase sales.
Collecting waste regularly at the end of the useful
working life-span of a product is one of the most
important functions of waste management. Considering
the fact that in Europe, alone 3.5 ton of garment waste
is colleted annually; such organizations deserve to be
assessed in a separate study.
THE WASTE RECYCLING EXCHANGE
Waste materials generated during the production
process of a plant can be used as raw materials in
another. For this reason, the Waste Recycling
Exchange was established within the framework of
environmental protection practices so as to reuse the
wastes generated during the production processes in
various other sectors of the industry.
The waste recycling exchange provides the following
advantages to companies:

The exchange reduces extra spendings of the

• company for the disposal of wastes.

Purchase of these wastes by another company

• converts these into an investment.

Financial burden brought about by storing these

• wastes is automatically eliminated.

•
Joining the exchange contributes to environmental
 protection initiatives.

A large number of prospective purchasers increase the

financial value of these wastes. Certain pieces of
information should be presented to the waste recycling
exchange about the waste materials generated during
• the production process.

• Type and composition of the waste material

• Possible pollution data

• Frequency of waste generation

• Quantity

• Form of shipment

• Type of packaging

Some of the wastes from the textile and apparel

industry that can be reused by the exchange are as
follows:

Cotton seeds from cotton gin mills (used in oil and

• feed factories)
 Greasy cotton and blend waste discarded by cotton
• yarn and cotton production facilities

Waste materials such as comber waste, off-combing,

• plucked yarn (used in rough yarn factories)

Carpet hems from carpet factories (raw material for

• bed fibre factories)

Fents, fabric hems and sewing yarn discarded by

• apparel companies

• Sacks, empty barrels, drums and cardboard boxes[18].

CONCLUSIONS
Increasing environmental problems have urged
companies manufacturing goods to meet basic
necessities of people to turn their looks to environment-
based management strategies. This new approach also
forms the basis of ecological production. The main
objective of ecological production is to adopt and
implement certain strategies that can make maximum
use of nature without upsetting the ecological balance.
Owing to changing demand and technologies, textile
and apparel product, which are among the basic
necessities of people, can negatively effect the
environment as well as humans during the production,
usage and disposal stages. The share of
environmentally friendly eco-textiles within international
textile and apparel trade has been increasing so as to
minimize hazardous effects. Importance attached to
environmental protection by consumers (end users) and
their understandings of responsibility have provided
great contributions to this issue. Further improvement of
the present level of ecological consciousness will help
parties involved in various processes in textile trade
and production to establish more efficient and to-the-
point environmental quality standards.

References
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Apak, G., 1996. Environmental quality and our

responsibilities. Standard, 2: 19-24.

Atayeter, C. and S.A. Taslak, 1997. System approach

into the environmental management. Standard, 4: 13-
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Catalbas, O., 2001. Working conditiones and

environment for textile and apperal sectors. Publ.
Lgeme Ankara Turkey, 16: 19-24.

Demircanli, U. and N. Seventekin, 1995. Some pollutant

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Eray, F., Z. Ozturk and E. Aras, 1999. Environment

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Ergun, O., 1996. Environment label for EU. Publ.

Lgeme Ankara Turkey, 54: 31-34.

Ergun, O., 2000. Ecological labels and textile products

in EU. Publ. Lgeme Ankara, 6: 16-22.

Guner, M. and A. Illeez, 2003. Social responsibility

standards in apparel industry. J. Textile Cloth., 13: 158-
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Hilden, J., 1992. Ecological quality properties for

garments. Proceeding of 6th International Izmir Textile
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Ince, F., 1998. Eco-tex 100 is a necessity. J. Textile

Technic, 5: 6-8.

Koc, E. and P. Duru, 1999. Ecological textile products

and eco-tex standard 100. Proceedings of 1st Cukurova
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499.
Nemli, E., 2001. Management based on environment,
Istanbul University. J. Political Sci., 23: 65-71.

Ozdogan, E., T. Oktem and N. Seventekin,

2002. Ecology from cotton to apperal. Proceedings of
4th Cotton, Textile and Apperal Symposium, (CTAS'02),
Antakya, Turkey, pp: 178-185.

Stead, E., 1996. Strategic Management for a Small

Planet, Business and the Environment. Earth
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Turkay, C., 1997. Turkey and EU arrengements on

package wastes. Publ. Lgeme Ankara, 39: 19-24.

Unluturk, S., 1994. Production of ecological garment.

Proceedings of National Meeting of Ecological
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Izmir, Turkey, pp: 16-19.

Yucel, O. and M. Guner, 2003. Environment friendly

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https://scialert.net/fulltextmobile/?doi=jas.2005.1843.1849
Turn CLOTH WASTE into BUSINESS
https://youtu.be/_fISI4XkZ64
video on the making of t shirts from the brand called
PURE WASTE.
15,450 viewsJul 28, 2016, 01:54pm

Two Entrepreneurs Turn Waste Into A Business

Esha Chhabra
Contributor
I write about the growing "industry" of social innovation.
Forty-five minutes outside of Coimbatore, India, a Finnish
company is producing a new kind of factory which will turn
trash into a fashion business.
Jukka Pesola and Anders Bengs run Pure Waste Textiles.
Their business model is simple: take leftover fabric and
turn it into a new, usable piece of clothing. However, the
clothes don’t scream recycled. The tees, sweaters, and
pants they produce out of excess or waste textiles are
fashionable and well cut staples.
This year, they’re opening a new unit in Tamil Nadu. The
facility houses a production unit where fabrics are opened,
carded, spun again and woven into new knits. By the end
of the year, the palm-lined land will include their flagship
recycling unit, already operational CMT manufacturing
unit, and facilities for staff. Once fully operational, the
plant will fill 200 jobs -- employment that Bengs says could
be beneficial to a poor local population. The unit will be
fueled by renewable energy, such as wind and solar
power.

Pure Waste Textile's new factory manager in Tamil Nadu

showcases on of their t-shirts. Photo Courtesy of Pure
Waste Textile.
Tamil Nadu is the heart of India's textile manufacturing --
an industry valued at $2.2billion. The trouble is that all this
growth and wealth has come at a price; traditional
manufacturing practices which include using chemical
dyes and water intensive crops, such as cotton, have
impacted the local environment negatively. The
Noyyal River which runs through much of Tamil Nadu has
gone from being a refuge for villagers living on its banks,
to a source of toxicity, and even cancer.

The factory has small touches of repurposing like this wall

made of recycled plastic bottles. Photo Courtesy of Pure
Waste Textiles.

Recycling, Bengs says, is the answer. “We cannot keep

growing more cotton, and producing more new clothes. To
feed a growing population’s appetite for consumption, we
have to start recycling, or as we like to call it, purecycling.”
Cotton, the primary fabric used in t-shirts, is a water-
intensive crop and can be destructive for the soil. Given
that it’s not a food crop, it also takes away precious
resources and arable land, which could be used to feed
populations. By some estimates, current cotton farming
could fill up land the size of modern-day Turkey.
Bengs, along with Pesola and three other partners, started
by recycling scrap fabrics into hats. In 2006, Bengs and
two of his three partners, developed a line called Costo,
which turned Bengs into a full-time hatmaker. “I was
making about 300 to 400 hats a day. It was just me
because I couldn’t afford anyone else.”
Yet, the brand grew in Helsinki and Bengs became even
more entrenched in sustainable fashion. Pesola, a textile
industry expert with over 15 years of experience,
negotiating contracts with Indian and Chinese suppliers,
began crafting a new business with Bengs. In 2013, Pure
Waste Textilesemerged.

Pure Waste Textile's shop in Helsinki tells the story, as

well as selling their products. Photo Courtesy of Subject.
Rather than turning to sustainable fabrics, the duo looked
to textile factories producing massive volumes. About 10
to 15 percent of fabrics go in the trash in factories, Pesola
explains. That extra fabric, however, is enough to produce
more clothing. The trick is to make it usable again.
The new unit in Tamil Nadu lets them break down knitted
fabric to fibers once again. Once the material is carded,
it’s spun, and turned into a new material. Given that
material was already dyed, Bengs and Pesola argue that it
eliminates other wasteful step in manufacturing clothes:
dying. Growing cotton and then dying it, just for one shirt,
can eat up as much as 2700 liters of water, Bengs says;
much of that water is then contaminated. While some
dying houses are responsible, using GOTS certified dyes
(or non-toxic dyes), not all are. And consequently, that
wastewater mixes with local water sources, such as the
Tirupur River.
Pesola says that 95 percent of textile fibers can be
recycled. “Not only can it be recycled,” he explains “but
it’s actually cheaper, if we work in volume, because we
don’t have to go through the dying process.”
The aim with the new unit in India is to produce mass
quantities of fabric, made from recycled
materials. Companies often ask Pure Waste Textile to
produce branded or custom designed apparel using these
base fabrics. To date, Pure Waste Textiles has already
produced branded designs on their recycled materials for
clients such as Slush, one of the largest technology and
entrepreneurship conferences in Europe, which takes
place every year in Helsinki.
By repurposing material and sewing it in proximity, the duo
are hoping to make a streamlined manufacturing process
that is low on its carbon footprint, cost-effective, and
easier to manage. Their Indian business partner runs the
sewing unit where the garments can be sewed and
finished.
Already, Pure Waste Textiles has developed an annual
turnover of 1 million euros. “The first two years has been
more about R&D and setting up the production unit,”
Bengs clarifies. But now with the plant scheduled to be
complete by 2017, the duo are looking at pushing
sales. With a team of 10 in Helsinki, 5 in Mumbai, and
200 in Tamil Nadu, recycling is no longer just a passion for
Bengs.
This reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center On
Crisis Reportingin Washington, DC.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/eshachhabra/2016/07/28/two
-entrepreneurs-turn-waste-into-a-business/
A WEBSITE SELLING WASTE CLOTH
India mart is a website where waste clothes are sold
starting from 8rs/kilogram to 100rs/kilogram
FASHION BRANDS BURN THE STOCK

At a time when our waste and our environmental

impact is firmly under the spotlight, news in early July
that fashion brand Burberry had burned almost £30m
($40m) of stock has caused outrage.
The company admitted destroying the unsold clothes,
accessories and perfume instead of selling it off cheaply,
in order to protect the brand's exclusivity and value. It
added that it had captured the energy from the burning to
try and make the process more environmentally friendly.
But how widespread is stock destruction at this level?
Orsola de Castro is the co-founder and creative director of
activist group Fashion Revolution, who lobby brands on
production transparency. She describes landfilling and
burning as fashion's "dirtiest open secret" and says she
has been waiting decades for a story like Burberry's to
emerge.
The BBC contacted 35 high-end designers and high-street
retailers to ask about their practice.
Only six replied with breakdowns or further information,
and the rest said they could not help or did not respond at
all.
The secretive nature of the industry makes it difficult to
accurately quantify the scale of the problem - but with
global production now exceeding 100 billion garments a
year, groups are warning of "potentially catastrophic"
environmental damage if current growth trends
continue.

Larger commercial producers have greater stock levels

and tend to first reduce prices to shift their product, then
recycle or resell what is left. In some cases, external
companies that specialise in moving on unsold goods are
used by some retailers. Others have adopted initiatives to
donate unwanted clothes to NGOs and social enterprises.
But environmental activists say fashion's waste problem is
much bigger than just unsold stock. They blame 'fast
fashion' - a term describing our high rate of fashion
consumption fuelled by the quantity of new clothes that go
on sale.

Image copyrightH&MImage captionH&M have garment

recycle points in their stores; its partner I:CO then sorts
items into rewear, reuse and recycle
Research collated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
suggests that global clothing production has doubled
in the past 15 years, with garments on average being
worn much less and discarded quicker than ever before.
The majority of used clothes we donate to charity have
traditionally been re-sold abroad, but now even that
demand is in decline. Demand in developing markets is
however on the increase, with nations such as Rwanda
instead opting to generate textiles independently, in
part because of the low quality of donated products from
fast-fashion retailers.

How is the industry changing?

While our passion for fashion is at least part of the

problem, experts say the industry itself needs to be
smarter with production to lessen environmental damage.

Media captionWhat is the future of used clothing now that

no one wants our used clothes anymore?
Initiatives for change are happening - the 2020 Circular
Fashion System Commitment was adopted by dozens
of brands at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit in May
2017.
The conference was organised by a group called Global
Fashion Agenda, who want brands to adopt initiatives like
using monofibres instead of synthetic and mixed-fibre
fabrics, which are hard to break down in the recycling
process.
Scientists have also warned that polyester-type
materials are adding to the problem of ocean plastic
pollution.
It is estimated that only 1% of our clothing is ultimately
recycled into new garments because of this complexity -
instead becoming items like insulation and cloths, which in
turn may end up in landfill.
By May 2018, 12.5% of the global fashion market had
signed up to the 2020 targets - including big global names
like Nike, Asos and Gap.
Image copyrightNIKEImage captionSports brand Nike's
Grind range involves making products and sports surfaces
from surplus and old footwear

Certain brands are capitalising on the environmental wave

to set ambitious targets for themselves: Adidas for
example have committed to only using recycling plastic in
their shoes by 2024 and H&M says it hopes to only use
sustainable materials in its production by 2030.
An end to fast fashion?
The UK government recently announced it would look
into the environmental impact of fast fashion with
the European Parliament also setting ambitious
targets on circularity for consumer and business textile
waste.
Jack Ostrowski, founder and CEO of the reGAIN app
which helps people recycle unwanted clothing, believes
fast fashion is not just an industry problem but a social one
too.
"People simply don't understand how big negative impact
fashion industry is on the environment and how quickly
that has to change," he says. "It just simply cannot
continue in the way it is now."
He has developed an app that encourages consumers to
recycle their clothes by offering incentives such as retailer
discounts. He believes retailers who profit from clothes
have a responsibility to better inform, facilitate and
incentivise recycling from customers.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage
captionGreenpeace has lobbied fashion retailers to detox
its use of hazardous materials in production

The sentiment is echoed by activists such as Greenpeace,

who say fashion's circularity targets do not go far enough.
They say the industry needs to stop marketing cheap fast-
fashion altogether, advocating for a slowdown our current
consumption level.
Part of fashion retailers' advertising strategy to younger
audiences is now through social media. Popular figures
are brought on board for line collaborations and online
influencers are sent goods for free to help promote them
to their followers.
"There's going to be a tipping point where consumers will
start seeing this act of hoarding or hauling goods as
negative," Orsola from Fashion Revolution says.
"Which influencers right now will film themselves drinking
from 50 different plastic straws because they're 50
different colours? That would look so wrong right now but
two years ago would have been fine."
Image copyrightRAGGED LIFEImage captionBloggers
such as Elspeth Jackson try to get younger people to
creatively reuse their old clothes

She has worked in the fashion industry for years

advocating for upcycling of products. This also has
currency in the online world - with bloggers and social
media accounts sharing advice on how to repair, reuse or
repurpose our clothes in inventive ways.
Asked for advice on how to resist the temptation to spend,
she recommends people return to engaging emotionally
with their clothing - learning to love the things they own
and taking longer to consider future purchases.
"Torture yourself a little bit! Because actually waiting for
something, waiting to see if you really, really want it,
waiting to see if it has a function in your life and then
buying it is beautiful."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44968561

MOVIE OSTUMES AND SECOND HAND CLOTHING

Movies have accounting departments and detailed asset
tracking. Costume departments don’t really
have any say on what happens to the clothes; it’s
ultimately up to the producers and the studio (HBO,
Sony, etc.).
producer Michael Flannigan tells that sometimes,
costumes are gifted to cast members. “Several actors
have it in their contracts that they get the pick of their
wardrobe,” he says. “Other than that, we have a
fire sale, typically only for the crew, at the end to sell as
much as we can, same as we do with props and
set dressing.”

Most studios have the policy that no asset can be sold,

promised, or given by anyone but the executive
producers. Everything is held until all edits are complete
and the time for reshoots is past. Some of the
big studios, like Disney and Warner Brothers, have their
own rental house businesses, so everything gets
filtered into those. Studios will also occasionally roll over
stock from one show to another. When HBO’s
Vinyl wasn’t renewed for another season, a lot of the
clothes went to The Deuce.
Principal actor clothing is kept in their permanent “closets.”
Even if an item is never worn again on the
show, it stays, because you never know when a random
flashback scene might appear in a script.
The thing most people don’t realize is that everything that
is bought in every department is
recorded.Accounting departments keep track and mark
things above a certain value (usually $100) as an
asset, which means they need to know where it is at the
end of a shoot.
These departments usually implement their own tagging
systems so that during wrap it’s easier to find
all the assets (accounting generates a list which needs to
be checked off, with the location of every piece
notated).
“An extraordinary amount of time is spent tracking down
and ID’ing things.”
She tells me that one of the “trickiest things” is that so
many items are purchased, then returned if not
used. The initial asset list the studio sends out often has a
large number of items listed that were later
returned. But, more often than not, they are not marked as
such on the list.
Sometimes studios will sell things through auction houses
and companies that specialize in selling old
movie clothes and props, such as It’s a Wrap or Prop
Store, both in Los Angeles.

These online auction forums are really the only opportunity

for people who don’t work in the business
to purchase costumes and props. Occasionally, crew
members who ended up with items from a show
will decide to resell them on eBay, but that’s pretty rare.
,Studios or producers hold onto the costumes that might
be a big deal later on. Most of the larger
studios have pretty extensive archives and storage.
Robert Rodriguez, for one, keeps a huge amount of
stuff from his films in storage in Texas. When I worked in
the wardrobe departments on his movies, we’d
always spend a lot of time carefully packing things into
those wedding dress storage boxes for his
“archives.”
Memorabilia that becomes available for purchase or
auction is usually the result of either a producer,
designer, or big-name actor or actress deciding to
liquidate some of their personal

collectionIndependent films (those not backed by a large

studio) tend to have looser guidelines when it
comes to what happens to the costumes after a shoot.
Barbara Pressar, an experienced ACD,
remembers being surprised on one of her first
independent films when the producers told her that they
“couldn’t wait to go through the wardrobe boxes” and take
what they wanted.
“I also remember,” Puisto says, “this one movie called
Norma Jean, about the early life of Marilyn
Monroe, that went from the teens to the ’50s. They pulled
the plug six weeks into pre-production and
let me keep what I had bought. I think they were just sad. I
stored those costumes for a long time until I
had some rocking garage sales. Literally, boxes of period
shoes never worn.
Ben Philipp, an ACD in New York City, was the costume
coordinator for HBO’s BoardAfter the rentals had
been returned, they first offered the remaining stock for
sale to their vendors: places like Western
Costume Company, Motion Picture Costume Company,
and Daybreak Vintage Rentals, all large costume-
rental houses.walk Empire.
The next step was the crew sale, open to the Boardwalk
Empire crew as well as crew from other shows.
The clothing that remained after the crew sale was
donated to places like Material for the Arts (Long
island City, New York), The Children’s Theatre, and the
University of Georgia’s theatre department.
Phillip recalls a show he worked on where the production
manager wanted the costume department
staff off payroll but there were still racks of clothes hanging
about.

“She told us, and I quote,” says Phillip, “Roll it into the
street on a rack and light it on fire. I don’t care.
Get rid of it.” They didn’t do that.

“Instead,” Phillip continues, “We found a local charity that

would do pick-ups, and they came every
Friday with a van for three weeks until wrap was up. We
didn’t have the budget or approval to use a
production truck to take the clothes anywhere, nor were
we allowed to ship it to anyone, so finding
someone who could benefit from the clothes and pick
them up was crucial. We did it, though.”
Puisto doesn’t ever really keep anything either.
“Everything is accounted for by the studio, and I really
don’t need much,” she says.
Over the years, I personally have seen an increase in
costume departments and productions making
concerted efforts to recycle, reuse, and donate as much
as possible.
One year at Christmas, the wardrobe supervisor asked me
to repair a bunch of bullet holes in winter
coats so we could donate them to the annual New York
Cares Coat Drive.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&
rct=j&url=https://www.racked.com/platform/amp/2018
/3/16/17072356/movie-and-tv-
wardrobesafter&ved=2ahUKEwjYl5ie9dPhAhVbiHAK
HWBGDZcQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw2QxZGq
MliizZkC8nOh8S19&ampcf=1

the celebrity outfits that you turn to so fondly for inspiration

end up in a dark place, locked up, and
maybe even forgottenWell, that's what happens to
most of them. They are locked up in trunks, kept in
the production houses, labelled with their respective movie
names, and forgotten, claims Ayesha
Khanna, a stylist for Yash Raj Films, reports Mid Day.
They become just another ' peti', like they
contain fruits or vegetables, and not outfits that have
inspired
an entire generation.
These clothes are then mix-matched and used for junior
artists, in other movies of the same production
house. This is done with utmost care by devising
completely new combinations, so that the audience
doesn't realize that the outfit has been reused.
But, not all clothes end up in the production house's
petis . At times, actors and actresses also keep a
certain favorite outfit with them. They might never wear it
in public and just keep it as a memory, or for
nostalgia's sake.
Now let's come to the other possibility in context of
these clothes.

Turns out, when a high-end celebrity designer is hired to

make outfits for a particular movie, they
usually take back the clothes with them.
Sometimes, ensembles that become iconic and set the
world of fashion on fire are also auctioned to
mostly raise money for charity. Even if it is a dress donned
by an A-lister in any of their movies, it
generally goes for high bids.
Rajnikanth and Aishwarya's elaborate outfits from
some of Robot's scenes were auctioned online, to
raise money for an NGO.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&
rct=j&url=https://www.scoopwhoop.com/amp/What-
Happens-To-All-The-Outfits-That-Actors-Wear-After-The-
Movie-Is-
Made/&ved=2ahUKEwjYl5ie9dPhAhVbiHAKHWBGD
ZcQFjABegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1jC2Z8aZR0uca9
hC
4SiZGJ&ampcf=1
USED CLOTHES OF THE ROYALS
Queen Elizabeth is well known for her distinctive style in
her old age and often chooses bold colours
when she steps out. She appears to have a never-ending
array of coats, hats and dresses - all of which
are much discussed when she makes a public
appearance. Just like anybody, the Queen does eventually
get tired of certain items in her wardrobe. A royal expert
has now revealed what really happens to these
discarded outfits when Her Majesty no longer wants them.
Author Brian Hoey made the revelation in his 2011 book
Not in Front of the Corgis.

“The Queen’s clothes are a constant source of comment in

the media and she will wear a favourite
outfit for years,” wrote Hoey.

“When she finally tires of it, she will hand it to one of her
dressers, who can either wear it or sell it.”

So will everyone know if an item once belonged to the

Queen? Unfortunately, this is not the case,
according to the author.

“[There is] one provison,” he said, “all labels must be

removed and anything that could possibly identify
it as having come from royalty obliterated.”
If items are sold, does this mean anyone could end up
buying an outfit once worn by the Queen of
England?
Incredibly, the answer is yes. Royal attire has ended up on
sale to the general public before - but most
likely no one had a clue.

“One frock found its way to a jumble sale near

Sandringham, but in spite of its obvious quality, it failed
to sell,” wrote Hoey.

Many of the Queen’s clothes are designed and made at

the palace by senior dresser Angela Kelly and
her team.

Kelly, who was taken on as a dresser in 1993 after

working as a housekeeper for a British diplomat, once
explained: “The Queen loves clothes and is a real expert
on fabrics.
“It’s not been a question of me teaching the Queen, it’s
been the other way around.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&
rct=j&url=https://www.express.co.uk/life-
style/life/1078281/queen-elizabeth-clothes-royal-family-
wardrobe-charity-
shop/amp&ved=2ahUKEwjj7dWC-
9PhAhXL7nMBHTwOCUEQFjADegQIBRAB&usg=A
OvVaw0zsMODGKnOWjxUNw_GH9n6&ampcf=1
Duchess Catherine has never been afraid to wear the
same outfit twice. Some may call her thrifty, but
when the mum-of-two reaches to the back of her wardrobe
for a trusted garment, she does it like a pro.
In fact, Duchess Kate isn't the only royal re-wearing
looks, her aunt-in-law Princess Anne also opts to
wear her most favourite pieces time again - she was
recently was spotted stepping out for the 2018
Commonwealth Day service wearing a cream and navy
coat she previously wore 32 years ago! And new
royal recruit Meghan Markle has proven she doesn't
need a new outfit for every event, she's worn her
favourite pair of box-leg trousers twice already.
1)The Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Windsor Castle
for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle donning a wool silk tailored coat-dress by
Alexander McQueen. And, despite a change of
accessories, we couldn't help but feel like we had
seen her outfit before, and in fact we have, three
times before!
2)Same dress, different hat. The Duchess of Cambridge
stands on the balcony of Buckingham Palace
during Trooping the Colour, marking the Queen's
90th birthday on June 11, 2016.
3)This coat is too gorgeous to leave in the wardrobe, Kate
wore it again on the 100th anniversary of the
Battle of Passchendaele in July, 2017. Here the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge watch as the poppies
fall from the roof of the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.
4)Wearing the stylish Alexander McQueen cream coat for
the first time, the Duchess carries baby
Charlotte to her christening at the church of St Mary
Magdalene on the Sandringham Estate in July,
2015.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&
rct=j&url=https://www.nowtolove.com.au/fashion/fas
hion-trends/royal-family-outfit-repeats-and-fashion-
rewears-45766&ved=2ahUKEwjj7dWC-
9PhAhXL7nMBHTwOCUEQFjAIegQIBxAB&usg=AO
vVaw0NwFA3OVJCpDzCNNbGdEyA

Second-hand is in fashion
While fostering recycling and sustainable living may be the
grand intention of the users, Gummaraju
admits that what brings most people to the platform is
"the possibility of getting a good bargain."
The young Indian customer is gladly shopping for hand-
me-downs without a whimper, leaving behind
the cultural prejudices of the past. Aiding the trend are a
clutch of web ventures that hawk bags to
shoes to sofas.
While monetary incentive might be the key driver behind
Indians enthusiastically cleaning up their
closets, what’s really heartening to note today is that this
changing mentality is slowly spawning a
second-hand economy — websites and groups are being
created everyday to facilitate the buying and
selling of used goods — be it furniture, books or clothes,
especially clothes.
A PLATFORM FOR SUSTAINABILITY

When Anu Gummaraju, Reena Chengappa and Shilpa

Kamath started Second To None, a forum to
facilitate the sale and purchase of 'used/ recycled /
upcycled goods only', sometime in July 2010, they
had no clue about the extent to which the idea would
succeed. "When we began Second To None, our
original intention was to build a small community where
instead of junking their unused items people
could sell them to others who needed them. We started off
with a small network of friends but thanks
to the prolific culture of Facebook, the network expanded
by word of mouth, and within six months of
setting up the page, our member count pretty much
exploded, growing from 200 people to 5000. Today,
we have about 90,000 members on the platform,"
reveals Gummaraju.
While the motivation to start Second To None stemmed
from a personal need – "There were really no
garage outlets where one could sell used stuff – the
thought that 'if I was going through this, so were
many others' was what nudged us to do it," she
says. While fostering recycling and sustainable living
may be the grand intention of the users, Gummaraju
admits that what brings most people to the
platform is "the possibility of getting a good
bargain."

About the shift in attitudes of people, where we don't

turn our noses up anymore on 'second –hand
stuff used by someone else before', Gummaraju
chooses to attribute it to sheer practicality.
"Bengaluru
has a lot of moving population—young students and
professionals who come here to study or work —
that is either looking to buy or dispose off their stuff before
they leave. This is precisely why there's a
huge market for household goods in the city," she
explains.
Monika Manchanda, food blogger, consultant and home
baker, has used the Second To None platform
to buy and sell products. "I don't think people
are queasy about buying used goods anymore because
there have been times where I have seen a product being
sold within minutes of it being posted on
Second To None," she says adding, "I think the
perception the older generation had, of one's status
being determined by the things we own, is slowly being
edged out. The generation today doesn't have
any such inhibitions. In fact, I recently chanced upon a
Facebook page that was dedicated to reselling
used saris! I think we have reached a point where people
don't mind wearing hand-me downs from
strangers anymore."
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&
rct=j&url=https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.co
m/amp/news/apparel-fashion/apparel/second-hand-is-in-
fashion/49045513&ved=2ahUKEwj9veDBi9ThAhVZc
CsKHeoDBIwQFjAMegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3kq6z
WMKqAnEO8daZAil0D&ampcf=1

BRANDS
.
1. Beyond Retro

Beyond Retro are a Vintage retailer. Their sources search

through 1,000s of vintage pieces to find those that are
timeless and ideal for us. But only 1 out of 1,000 pieces
make it to the shop floor. Beyond Retro creatively found a
solution the other 999 pieces that didn’t make. They
created their own upcycled Label made only from
secondhand fabrics.

Taking the pieces that didn’t make the cut and sort them
into huge piles of fabrics. They then redesign them based
on future fashion trend predictions. Turning the past into
the future. Another key feature is the price range, making
it easier for conscious consumers to shop ethically.
 Patagonia Women’s Lightweight Synchilla® Snap-T®
Fleece Pullover

2. Patagonia
This list would not be complete without one of the founding
fathers of ethical fashion – Patagonia. Patagonia has been
paving the way forward in the ethical fashion space since
1973. The outdoor wear brand started using recycled
plastic bottles to make their garments back in 1993! That’s
what I call pushing the boundaries.
Patagonia uses this recycled plastic to create their fleeces,
shorts, and jackets in their Re\\\collection. They also have
a really cool recycling scheme. If you own one of their
clothes, and it can’t be repaired, you can hand it into one
of their shops to be recycled and reused. Saving tonnes of
clothing from ending up in the landfill and making the
fabrics lifetime last much longer. Keep doing what you’re
doing Patagonia!

Organic Cotton and Recycled Polyester Desert Sweater

by Lyme Terrace
3. Lyme Terrace
London based brand Lyme Terrace take plastic bottles
and recycle them into strong pieces. They then combine
that with Organic cotton to create some of their jumpers.
For each jumper, 18 bottles have been saved from ending
up in landfill! That really does add up. And it doesn’t stop
there either. They use the surplus material from the
production of their jumpers to make the short sleeve
version. That’s what I
call upcycling in
action.
4. Good Krama
There are loads of factories in Cambodia, leaving heaps of
deadstock fabrics. Good Kramagoes around buying up
this old, leftover fabrics from the local warehouses and
reuse these upcycled materials to create timeless pieces.
They literally go around cleaning up the place. And create
something awesome whilst doing it! Now that’s what I call
glamorous. With these upcycled materials, they try and
place it everywhere. From the packaging to the tags to
shipping materials. No stone is left unturned with Good
Krama. They really do deserve their place on this list.
 Glitch Print Gymwear by RubyMoon
5. RubyMoon
RubyMoon makes some of the most beautiful activewear
pieces. Their gym and swimwear are created from used
fishing nets and plastic bottles taken from the ocean. By
turning polluting waste into their beautiful garments, they
have reduced their carbon footprint by 42%! They are also
dedicated to a circular economy. So they re-claim
swimwear and other stretch fabrics to re-use in their
upcycled clothing line. RubyMoon also has its own take-
back scheme. So, if you have any used swimwear pieces,
you can send them in and receive a discount on your next
purchase. Much better than just throwing them away!

Red striped one of a kind top by Zero Waste Daniel

6. Zero Waste Daniel
Zero Waste Daniel is one of the most interesting brands
I’ve come across. Founded by the New York design Daniel
Silverstein.every single piece is made from 100% scrap
material. Because of this it has a very distinctive
patchwork design. Yet Daniel makes his pieces look so
sleek. He creates both your basics and one of a kind
pieces. Check them out, they really are a marvelous
sustainable fashion brand.

Stretch high rise ankle crop by Re/Done

7. Re/Done
Re/Done are a vintage brand which focuses mainly on
denim. They take the vintage denim apart at the seams
and repurpose them into new jeans. Updating their fit to
match a modern fit whilst keeping its character. All their
jeans are made in Downtown Los Angeles using water
conserving methods and they make sure to not use harsh
chemicals.
Re/Done also make sure to keep the original stitching
where possible. This preserves the years of history and
stories stored in the pockets, faded colouring and torn
knees. Each piece is limited in number as they are
handpicked and hand cut. Giving you a distinctly one of a
kind pair of jeans with a new life.

‘Sybilla’ limited edition forest print coat by Ecoalf

9. Ecoalf
Ecoalf started in 2009 with a view of paving the way for a
new generation of fabrics – recycled fabrics. Ecoalf have
started many projects to clean up the Oceans from plastic.
The number of plastics polluting the oceans is
breathtaking, and they’re in a really poor state. So it’s
great to see a fashion brand tackling this head on. They
actively collect junk from the ocean and recycle them,
turning them into timeless designs for us to wear. What a
fantastically positive business!
 9 Gorgeous Indian Upcycling Brands We Love

 By Rhea Almeida | Posted Mar 13 2017

Upcycling is the process of creating something new and
better from old items. While that might sound like an
environmentally conscious concept, with a philosophical
base that challenges over-consumption (and you’d be right
to assume so), it’s also a concept that can be seen
walking down runways, bringing contemporary clothing to
the world with an unmistakably strong identity. Bringing
sustainability into the garment industry, several luxury
fashion brands are focusing on reusing discarded buttons,
broken beads, old rags and so on to weave them into a
coherent and wearable design, while still paying their own
allegiance to the planet that provides them with the
resources to make these things. One man’s junk is
another man’s art, they say, and these brands are proving
just that.
Creating something beautiful from something once thought
of as worthless is a skill truly reserved for a passionate
and artistic few, and we’ve picked out 9 Indian upcycling
brands making environmental consciousness chic.
I. Doodlage
Passionate about the magic of reinvention, creative
directors and partners Kriti Tula, ParasArora and
VaibhavKapoor have dedicated their entire fashion label to
the ethical concept of upcycling and recycling. From
creating fabric out of damaged spools of thread that
cannot be used in machines, to repurposing strips of fabric
to make knitted mufflers and sweaters, their style is edgy,
casual, versatile and constantly evolving.
“Recycling has always been a deeply rooted tradition in
our lives,” they tell us, “Be it the tradition of making kantha
quilts out of the old clothing, or transforming your mom’s
vintage saris into nice, trendy attire.” Building a connect to
the old charm and warmth of vintage materials, each piece
crafted by Doodlage tells a story. They describe how the
contrast and constant meshing of cloth and technique
makes each final fabric like a different painting coming to
life on a similar canvas. T
The easy-flowing vibe surrounding each of their designs
mimics the sensibilities of its creators, focussing on the
meeting point between sustainability and good fashion. As
they put it, “We are not here to make what just appears
beautiful but also has a beautiful story, we are here to add
substance to what is worth a second life,to re-invent the
ways to design, deconstruct and develop.”
II. 11:11
Well established in the luxury space, 11:11 or eleven
eleven focuses on eco-friendly and sustainable fashion,
bringing together contrasts in a unique way. Traditional
and new age, urban and natural, modernity and pre-
modernity—duality is the brand’s ethos, with with the
revaluation of discarded materials at the core of their
philosophy. Spearheaded by ShaniHimanshu and Mia
Morikawa, this upcycling clothes label attempts to ignite a
dialogue to challenge the conventional idea of
consumption, and they do it in style.
III. Abraham and Thakore
As their Old-New collection launched at the Amazon India
Fashion Week last year, Abraham &Thakore rode their
innovation into the sphere of upcycling fashion. As they
studied kanthaand suzani fabrics, the designers’ eyes
were opened to the traditional yet imaginative art
repurposing old fabrics into quilts and bed covers. And the
idea bulb was lit, as they created a whole line of attire
embellished using things that others would look at as, well,
junk. From discarded coke cans and buttons to X-ray films
repurposed as sequins, the duo’s kantha work took flight,
and still found a way to differentiate itself. While regular
kantha work is done on printed fabric, the Old-New
collection focuses on grey, charcoal, black and ivory,
introducing a unique colour palate to this tradition.

IV. AM.IT
Brainchild of fashion lover AmitAggarwal, the AM.IT label
kicked off its Autumn/Winter 2015-16 collection with
upcycling as the focal point. This buffet of textural
ingenuity features leftover felt bindi cut-out sheets sourced
from factories in Delhi which create a futuristic jaali effect
in contemporary fashion. Recycled plastic sheets, fabric
from old stockings, and ikat and batik cloths intersperse
the label’s designs, making the environmentally sound
concept of repurposing sound, well, chic. “We wanted
something that’s vintage and beautiful but also something
that looks at the future, that excites us. No matter what life
we’re leading, we can’t do without an amalgamation of the
past and the future,” they say.

V. Péro
From military jackets to sneakers, Péro by AneethArora,
season after season, has displayed a select choice of
beautifully crafted designs that resonate with their ethos of
upcycling. Digging through vintage stores for lost gems,
amongst other things, the label discovers reusable fabrics
and shapes them into chic, wearable products. Age-old
traditions of hand-made crafts are weaved into their
designs, with intricate embroidery and unique patterns
coming together in surprising yet fashionable ways,
making Péro a much-coveted upcycling label.
VI. House of Wandering Silk
Sustainable fashion is the core value that Delhi-based
brand House of Wandering Silk functions on, creating
everything from clothes to accessories and even home
decor with a conscience. Crafted by various artisans, the
label believes in organic, hand-made material revolving
around upcycling. Indigenous skills and arts are invoked
for their traditional designs, empowering communities who
work with the brand, and their high-quality products are as
environmentally sound as they are gorgeous.

VII. KaSha
Crafted by KarishmaShahani, KaSha takes upcycling to a
whole new level with discarded plastic bags turned into
jackets, second-hand sneakers chopped and revamped
into stilettos, and discarded chandeliers converted into
beautiful jewellery. Skirts are hemmed with old Benarasi
sari borders, and crop tops are fashioned out of discarded
T-shirts and leftover fabric at this hip clothing brand, where
a new style is spun out of every piece of ‘junk’.

VIII. Boro
Boro, which is Japanese for ‘too good to waste’, is
Paromita Banerjee’s upcycling fashion label with three
distinct collections paying homage to the name it stands
for. Making a case for Indians to stop seeing recycling as
‘jugaad’, she uses a mix of fabrics, especially Ajrakh
prints, with weaves and Bagh-printed textiles in Khadi
featuring in her designs. “I always think about how I could
take recycling to the next level. Since each of these
garments is created with a mix of different discarded
materials in fabric, colour or texture, the composition of
each piece is different. It is like creating my kind of couture
in my tiny way,” says Banerjee, talking about the latest
collection Boro Part II.

IX. Shraddha Nigam and MayankAnand

Never having used non-Indian fabrics, television actors
turned designers MayankAnand and Shraddha Nigam
pride themselves on sustainable luxury fashion. Starting
off their line of womenswear in 2010, their goal was to give
the country’s small scale artisans and craftsmen, whose
businesses were suffering at the hands of imported
western fabric, a platform to showcase their work. Built
upon the philosophy of natural and organic clothing, their
local weaves reuse, recycle, repurpose and recreate,
earning their entire line the label of ‘upcycled

The recycle chain

1 Get the sari
How often have you exchanged an old tattered sari for
shiny new utensils? Guess where did your sari end up —
more often than not, in Janpath, as a cushion cover! “We
prefer Benarasi saris as they are sought after by traders.
The zari and gota can be reused in cushion covers,” says
Aarti, 18, who collects saris from homes
 2 Trade again
The goods are sold at very low prices. The prices start at
Rs 10 for a shirt or a sari and goes up to Rs 500 and
depends on the scope of reselling or reusing it. “There are
many buyers who look the Rs 10-stuff. It usually includes
light bordered saris, and trousers,” says Sundari Ben, 42,
who has been selling goods here for the last 20 years.

3Back on sale
The saris sold here are usually used for making patches of
the borders; the gotta and heavy embroidery are used for
making handloom items, such as cushion covers and rugs.
“I buy only the Benarasi saris from here and use the
patches for cushion covers,” says Savita Ben, who sells
cushion covers and bags at Janpath market.

The Secrets Of A Nasty Gal

Web phenom Sophia Amoruso created a $100 million
business despite a misspent youth and zero business
training. Now she wants to help other single-minded
women make the most of their potential.

Sophia Amoruso [PHOTO BY SAMANTHA CASOLARI]




BY EVIE NAGY8 MINUTE READ

“The first thing I ever sold online was stolen,” admits

Sophia Amoruso, who in seven years went from having a
string of dead-end jobs to being CEO of Nasty Gal, the
online clothing retailer with an impossibly cool rep and
$100 million–plus in revenue.
In 2006, while working the security desk at an art school,
Amoruso opened an eBay store to sell vintage clothes,
after noticing that similar stores were friending girls like
her on Myspace. Directionless as she was at the time, she
had an eye for style, photography, and thrift stores, and
knew she could make cast-off pieces look irresistible by
using her cute friends as models. The brand she built,
named Nasty Gal after funk singer Betty Davis’s 1975
album, earned such a following that it spun off to its own
site and, in 2012, attracted nearly $50 million in backing
from Index Ventures. In addition to vintage, Nasty Gal now
sells daring designer pieces as well as its own exclusive
line.
The first thing I ever sold online was stolen.
Without a college degree or prior business experience,
Amoruso, 29, made Nasty Gal profitable from day one
because she had the instincts, discipline, and confidence
to focus on the successful and ditch what didn’t work. She
has now collected those lessons in #GIRLBOSS,
forthcoming from Portfolio/Putnam May 6, a book detailing
the good (and terrible) choices that got her where she is
today. The book is aimed at the young women who buy
her clothes, and, despite the title, is much less about
running a company than about taking charge of your own
life.
The world of online retail is so crowded. Did you see a
big opening when you started Nasty Gal?
I was never trained. I never thought, “Oh, here’s the big
opportunity!” Now I’m in a place where I have that big
opportunity, but only because I’ve built this thing from
small pockets of opportunity that I followed. It was very
iterative, I guess. If one thing worked, I did more of it. If it
didn’t work, I didn’t beat my head against the wall to make
something happen. It all centered around what my
customers were responding to.
Would I have ever started a website selling vintage
clothing and just hoped people would show up at my
URL? No. EBay gave me the framework to discover I was
an e-commerce entrepreneur. I touched everything, from
shipping to logistics. E-commerce means that anyone can
have an online store, but it’s become a much more
crowded space. Being as early as I was is a big
advantage. Lots of people are going to sell clothes online.
But not a lot of people have built a brand, a living,
breathing brand that people feel like they’re part of.
The Nasty Gal Look
Some best sellers, complete with lingo.
1. “The hottest” Attention Stealer Dress. ($78)
2. A Look See Clutch ($38) is for “not-so-secret
essentials!”
3. “Unleash your inner shoe freak” with Desire Sandals.
($68)
4. The SRSLY WTF Bag ($25) “says it all.”
5. The “vampy” Night Fall Dress. ($68)
6. A French Love Dress is “totally rad.” ($68)
Images courtesy of Nasty Gal
You write about the grueling process of digging
through old vintage clothing when you were starting
out. How did you have the patience for that? And how
did you know when you found the right thing?
It was fun for me. It was like finding a penny on the street.
At a certain point, I could hold something up on a hanger
and know exactly how it would look on a girl, how I could
style it, and how it related to what’s going on in fashion
today. It became a treasure hunt.
And for me, it was finding my future. Being able to turn
something that has no inherent value, like a vintage
blouse, into something that some girl feels is total gold–
and is willing to pay the price of gold for–just felt really
great.
Nothing will teach you more about perceived value than
taking something with literally no value and selling it in the
auction format. It teaches you the beauty and power of
presentation, and how you can make magic out of nothing.
You’ve tapped into a young, female culture that can’t
get enough of your stuff. As you get a little bit older–
and richer–how do you stay connected to that?
It gets harder less because of the way my life is changing
than due to the fact that I’m not managing all the social
media. I’m not on the phone or in the email inbox all the
time, which is where I learned the most.
We have a really talented team of buyers. My first
employee, Christina, is now the buying director. She’s
been with me for five and a half years. One of my best
friends is running social media. That’s the kind of team
that keeps Nasty Gal relevant. And aesthetically and
culturally, I feel like I’ll never lose that youthful spirit.
Let’s talk about the book. Who’s it for?
I have something like 70,000 Instagram followers beating
down my door every day for a job, like, “Oh, my God, I
wanna model for you, I wanna intern for you.” They say,
“Oh, my god, you had shitty jobs too. That makes me
hopeful.” Or I meet women at conferences who tell me, “I
have a 20-year-old daughter who’s totally flailing, but you
give me hope for my child.”
“I have something like 70,000 Instagram followers
[saying], ‘I wanna model for you, I wanna intern for you.’
They say, ‘Oh, my god, you had shitty jobs too. That
makes me hopeful.'”
I’m sure when you’re a parent, you don’t think, “Oh, my
child just needs to go through this phase where they scare
the shit out of me.” But that’s what made me capable of
taking on what I did at 22. I tried so many things that didn’t
work, and I put my mom through total hell. But most
writers don’t really talk about that. No one who’s talking to
women and girls has a story that’s as approachable as
mine.
As Nasty Gal grows, I want to reinforce what’s at the core
of our success and tell my story on my own terms, to
come out and say, “Hey, the first thing I ever sold online
was stolen.” I’m not glamorizing that lifestyle, but you
know: Don’t make my mistakes, or go make your own
mistakes–it’s okay.
Look, I was dumb. Half the people in this office wouldn’t
have taken me seriously seven years ago. To my surprise
and everyone else’s, I’ve come out the other side more
self-aware, self-critical, and able to appreciate what I
have.
Why the title? You’re explicit that it’s a feminist book
in certain ways. Why is that important to you?
Someone tweeted me today that they were put off
by #GIRLBOSSbecause women should be called women.
I just thought, ‘You don’t get it. Broad Boss? Do you prefer
Matron Boss?’ That’s what I tweeted back.
My story of female empowerment, if you can call it that,
comes from rejecting everything that the feminist who
works at the bookstore on Portlandia would believe
in. That’s like living less of a life. I think it’s more of a
challenge to wear a skirt and makeup and be a wife and
be a mom and have a job and feel sexy, while also
keeping your boyfriend in check and making sure you
don’t get treated like shit in the workplace. There’s a
difference between making compromises and being
compromised, which a lot of women do let happen.
The title itself comes from this unknown Japanese film
from the ’70s called Girl Boss Guerilla. It’s about these
ransom-gathering Japanese girls who ride motorcycles,
look amazing, and fight in puddles. It’s really campy, cool,
glamorous, and totally lowbrow. The genre’s called Pinky
Violence. There are these DVD box sets, the Pinky
Violence collections. They’re all female revenge. I just love
revenge films for some reason.
Sophia AmorusoPHOTO BY SAMANTHA CASOLARI
A big chunk of the book is about staying on top of
your finances. But I bet that some of your best
customers are girls who overspend on their credit
cards on your site.
I know. I know. “Money looks better in the bank than on
your feet” [one of the chapter titles]. I want our customers
to be responsible. I mean, if they’re responsible, if they
don’t splurge today, they’ll be customers long-term. That
part is for a girl who would never buy a book on finance:
Maybe this can be the gateway drug to that for her.
What do you look for when you’re hiring?
I hire people who are self-aware and excited for the right
reasons. A lot of people want to work at a venture-backed
company. That’s fine, but I want people excited
about this opportunity, who can unleash big-time
experience to augment the business, and who don’t try to
cookie-cutter anything. I want people who are self-led and
self-motivated, who take things personally. There’s no
“that’s not my job” here.
What’s next? What are your growth strategies now?
We’re going to open some stores over the next year. I
think we’ll start in L.A. I’ve created a very human brand
online and our customers really want to engage with us
and our product in real life. Also, building out exclusive
product is really exciting. And we need to create an
amazing experience on the website. Right now, you can
shop and check out the blog, but you can’t even leave
reviews! We’re leagues behind where we should be. Being
able to tell our story and engage our community better
online is big. Our customer doesn’t really differentiate
between consuming content, shopping for something, and
hanging out with her friends online. I just want to give her
all kinds of reasons to hang out on Nasty Gal.
As Nasty Gal grows, do you think about possibly
getting acquired, signing on with anyone bigger?
No. No. No. I wanna take this as far as I can. If being
under the wing of someone else seems like a good idea at
some point, I’d consider it. But I’m not a very good
employee, so it would have to be someone pretty special.
I’m having fun with my autonomy.
A version of this article appeared in the April 2014 issue of
Fast Company magazine.