Fashion Footprint

India’s Environmental Footprint: A Story of Sustainable Development

As a developing country, India is working towards a brighter future through sustainable development. In the past few years, the Centre for Sustainable Fashion worked on a project to introduce sustainable textiles in India. Partnering with the Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affiars (Defra), the project worked to introduce ecological textiles in India, position India into the sustainable textiles market and enable India to trade eco-friendly textiles to retailers in the United Kingdom.

A second project was initiated to revamp the Indian dye houses in order to make them more eco-friendly. From 2009 through 2011, Color Connections Ltd. worked with the Indian dye houses that supply the UK market to reduce the environmental impact of the houses.

Women in a village in India pick the cotton crops. PC: CNN

These projects are examples of the progress India is making in sustainable development and agriculture. India’s production of textiles accounts for 14% of its production and 17% of the country’s exports. India exports its textiles worldwide, and according to Defra’s Sustainable Clothing Roadmap, while India’s textile export industry is an economic success story that grosses over $500 billion, the industry has a serious environmental and social footprint associated with its supply chain.

An assessment was done to find out exactly what India’s environmental impact was before it moved towards sustainable development. Researchers assessed its use of water, its greenhouse gas emissions and its chemical pollution. It was determined that Indian cotton was the worst offender of all the textiles.

Indian cotton accounts for 16% of the world’s production and provides jobs for 40 to 50 million people (Hussain, 2010). However, the cotton industry is known to use large quantities of water and chemicals during the process.

An organic cotton farmer carries a bale of cotton. PC: Greta Blue

India is now offering fair trade, organic cotton and has emerged as the second least expensive producer of organic cotton behind Tanzania. The fair trade and organic combination appeals to retailers abroad because it is good for marketing.

The Maikaal Project worked to transform the way cotton was being produced in India. It helped to lessen the agricultural impact on the environment as well as yield higher profits for the farmers by substituting synthetic fertilizers and pesticides with organic farming techniques. In 2005, Maikaal bioRe® was established in central India and the initiative set up 1500 small farms and produced 1,000 tons of cotton.

An organic farm from the Maikaal Project in central India. Photo Credit: ETH

Though there are still several issues to overcome, the future for sustainable development in India is promising. By switching to eco-friendly agriculture, the farmers are likely to yield more profit from the crops while reducing their impact on the environment.

Works Consulted:

Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs, (2009). Sustainable clothing roadmap: Summary of Defra commissioned projects under the sustainable clothing action plan. Retrieved from: http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/products/roadmaps/documents/summary-projects-sustain-clothing-ap.pdf

Hussain, A. (2010). Sustainable textiles for fashion from India. Department for Environmental Food and Rural Affairs. Retrieved from: http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2010/09/sustainable-textiles-for-fashion-from-india/

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, (2011). The impact of organic cotton cultivation on the livelihood of Indian smallholders. Research Fellowship Partnership Programme. Retrieved from: http://www.rfpp.ethz.ch/fellowships/concluded_fellowships/organiccotton

(Source: fashionfootprint.tumblr.ocm)

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Text Post

Reduce Your Carbon Hoofprint: Choose Alpaca Fiber

As a child, I visited an alpaca farm in upstate New York on a road trip with my family. It was one of those unplanned (and unwanted) adventures that gave my parents an opportunity to rest from the long drive and gave my brothers and I the chance to complain. In response to my whining—or perhaps as punishment for it—my parents convinced me to ride the alpaca. Cautiously, I approached the animal, as the farmhand gave me a boost onto the beast.

Photo Courtesy of Fly Over People

When I got up there, I exhaled a sigh of relief, then quickly inhaled through my mouth to avoid the strong stench of farm manure. I wasn’t enjoying myself and grew even more miserable when the animal began walking around the pen. Anxiously, I grabbed onto the fleece of its neck and tried to stabilize myself.

Two things became clear to me very quickly: first, that I wasn’t cut out for farm life, and second, that I was most certainly going to fall off. I left the ranch that day with a bump on my behind and a new pair of soft, Peruvian-patterned mittens. It was at that moment that my love affair with alpaca fleece began.

Photo Courtesy of Estates Net

Alpaca fiber is an eco-friendly fabric that has a less harmful impact on the environment than traditional wool. It is soft, lightweight and very fine. Alpaca wool also insulates extremely well; it is five times warmer than sheep’s wool.

Alpaca fiber is easier to process than sheep’s wool. Sheep’s wool contains a grease called lanolin, which is extracted by pressing the sheep’s wool through rollers. Lanolin is an allergen that can irritate human skin, and therefore requires more scouring agents. Alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic and can be cleaned without using harsh chemicals.

The fiber comes in 22 different shades of colors that can be blended together to create varying shades of yarn without the use of dyes. Alpaca fiber will take dye very well if other colors are desired, and natural dyes, such as indigo or pomegranate rind, may be used.

Photo Courtesy of Purl Alpaca Designs

Also, alpacas do not cause over-grazing like other farm animals. Alpacas have unique physical properties that lessen their impact on their surroundings. Alpacas have padded feet that do not rip up the grass like hooves do and unusual front incisor teeth that allow alpacas to graze differently than other species; alpacas eat just the tops of the grasses, leaving the roots in tact.

Finally, alpacas are raised primarily in South America and the United States. By buying alpaca products, consumers can support sustainable small farm businesses locally, domestically or abroad.

While I may not be jumping at the chance to ride an alpaca ever again, I have certainly jumped on the alpaca fiber bandwagon!

(Source: fashionfootprint)

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