With global warming increasing, there's intense pressure on governments and brands to clean up their act. Consumers are also equally responsible to make better choices when it comes to shopping and opt for brands that are doing their bit to save the environment.
The theme for Environment Day (5 June) this year was beat plastic pollution. So, we decided to ask some design houses in the country what steps they are taking towards reducing plastic consumption and helping the buyer make informed shopping choices.
Anita Dongre, for instance, has always included the sustainability philosophy in her fashion narrative. The designer has partnered up with Lucro Plastecycle Private Limited to put a comprehensive plastic waste management system at The House of Anita Dongre (which also has brands such as AND and Global Desi). Lucro specializes in recycling locally sourced plastic waste to manufacture flexible packaging products.
Climes, an Indian eco-tech company that helps companies offset their carbon emissions, meanwhile, has seen more fashion brands such as The Pant Project, Neeman’s, The Souled Store partner with them this year.
Beauty and wellness platform kindlife, which only sells plant-based, toxin-free, eco-conscious or cruelty-free brands, has plastic-free recyclable packaging. They have recently launched an empty-packaging collection program and aim to be 100% plastic-neutral soon.
“Kind Circle is our empties program, where we invite our community to return their empty beauty and food containers, whether or not they purchased them from our platform, and earn “kinders”. These kinders then translate into discounts on their next purchase. What started out as an empties program for beauty has expanded in scope over the years to include food containers as well,” says Radhika Ghai, founder and CEO of the company.
Summer Somewhere is another fashion label that is serious about not generating too much plastic waste. They have partnered with ReCircle and recover a kilogram of plastic for every order placed, and have since recovered 3,130kg of plastic.
“Summer Somewhere has been a plastic-free label since the get-go. We have taken our commitment to the environment one step further by associating with ReCircle. Our pledge is to recover 10,000kg of low-grade single-use plastic from landfills and oceans by 2025. We recover 1kg of plastic waste (equal to 40 one-litre bottles) for every order placed with us,” says Meghna Goyal, founder of the label.