Reframing Sustainable Clothing
On 21 June 2025, Desi Trust organised a panel discussion titled Sustainable Clothing: Bridging the Gap Between Demand and Supply at the Samagata Foundation, Church Street.
The discussion positioned sustainable clothing not merely as a category of garments, but as a lens through which larger questions of justice, climate responsibility, and cultural continuity must be addressed. Bringing together industry professionals and sustainability practitioners, the session examined the growing disconnect between rising consumer demand for sustainable fashion and the lived realities of production systems particularly within India’s handmade and handwoven clothing ecosystem.
Beyond Materials and Certifications
Sustainable clothing is often reduced to material choices, labels, or certifications. This panel sought to broaden that conversation by situating fashion within ecological, social, and cultural frameworks. The discussion underscored that sustainability cannot be achieved simply by increasing efficiency or output; instead, it requires a deeper transformation in how value is understood, created, and distributed across the supply chain.
Panelists reflected on how prevailing fashion systems continue to prioritise speed, volume, and visibility metrics that frequently overlook the time, skill, and labour embedded in handmade production. As sustainable fashion gains visibility among urban consumers, this imbalance places increasing pressure on artisans and producers who remain at the foundation of these systems.
Voices from Across the System
The panel brought together perspectives from fashion choreography, corporate sustainability, and handwoven textile enterprises to critically examine the widening demand–supply gap.
Panelists included:
- Prasad Bidapa – International Fashion Choreographer & Stylist
- Manish Saksena – Business Head, Aadyam Handwoven
- Ritika Gandhi – Vertical Head, Titan CSR
The discussion highlighted how the current fashion economy often externalises its costs—environmental degradation, undervalued labour, and cultural erosion—while presenting sustainability as a marketable aesthetic. Speakers emphasised that without systemic change, increased demand for “sustainable” clothing risks replicating the same extractive dynamics it seeks to replace.
Rethinking Scale and Value
A key theme that emerged was the misconception that scaling sustainability requires more factories or mechanisation. Instead, the panel stressed the importance of strengthening artisan-centred systems systems that recognise skill, time, and ecological care as intrinsic to production rather than inefficiencies to be eliminated.
Handmade and handwoven clothing, the panel argued, should not be viewed as remnants of the past. On the contrary, they represent viable and necessary responses to the climate crisis models of production rooted in restraint, regeneration, and human-scale economies.
The Role of the Consumer
The conversation also turned inward, examining the role of consumers in shaping ethical markets. Bridging the demand–supply gap, panelists noted, requires a shift in consumer mindset from prioritising price and volume to valuing durability, provenance, and labour.
Conscious consumption was framed not as a passive preference, but as an active responsibility, one that demands awareness of how clothing is made and who bears the hidden costs of production. Every purchase, the panel suggested, is also a decision about which systems are sustained and which are eroded.
Climate Accountability and Cultural Continuity
Moderated by Bhargavi S Rao, Climate Resilience Strategist, the discussion maintained a strong focus on climate accountability throughout. The panel reinforced the idea that the future of fashion lies not in scaling commerce alone, but in scaling consciousness.
By foregrounding justice, climate responsibility, and cultural continuity, the session closely aligned with Desi Trust’s broader commitment to ethical livelihoods and sustainable systems where clothing is understood not just as a product, but as a relationship between people, land, and culture.
Moving Forward
This panel discussion reaffirmed the need for deeper, more honest conversations within the sustainable fashion movement conversations that centre producers as much as consumers, and systems as much as aesthetics.
Through collaborations such as these, Desi Trust continues to build platforms that challenge dominant narratives and advocate for futures where sustainability is rooted in respect, equity, and long-term responsibility.