Design & Development of Traditional & Sustainable Contemporary Women Wear Volume 4 - Issue 2

Y Jhanji*

• Department of Fashion & Apparel Engineering, The Technological Institute of Textiles & Sciences, India

Received:July 05, 2021   Published: July 13, 2021

*Corresponding author: Y Jhanji, Department of Fashion & Apparel Engineering, The Technological Institute of Textiles & Sciences, India

DOI: 10.32474/LTTFD.2021.04.000183

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Abstract

The textile and garment industry in spite of its contribution to country’s GDP and employment avenues is also responsible for environmental pollution owing to hazardous effluents, landfills and wasteful practices in textile supply chain. The need of the hour is thus switching over to conventional manufacturing processes, use of organic fibres, natural dyestuff, adoption of sustainable principles and approaches like upcycling and recycling at each manufacturing process to avert any deleterious environmental impacts. Furthermore, there is an ardent need of giving impetus to indigenous traditional textiles and crafts so that the rich legacy of traditional textiles and fine workmanship is not merely restricted to means of livelihood for skilled artisans. The fashion designers in the pursuit to revive traditional textiles and to support artisans have been working in close association with artisans and switching over to sustainable raw material procurement and manufacturing practises. Accordingly, designers have been utilizing recycled, upcycled materials, sustainable fibres in their collection and garnering inspiration from the lively, mythological and colourful motifs of these beautiful art forms to design and develop a gamut of high-end artifacts, apparels, home textiles and accessories with amalgamation of traditional and contemporary look in design collection. The present study was therefore undertaken to identify the preferential traditional techniques along with consumer acceptability for recycled and upcycled apparels and accessories. The design collection comprised of varied styles of eco-friendly, sustainable apparels and accessories like fit and flare dress, crop top, sando top, handbags, fashion jewelry, hats, scarves and footwear utilizing surplus, unsold fabrics of short yardage collected from local fabric vendors and encouraging female faculty and students of nearby regions to drop their unused clothing and accessories in drop boxes for collectibles positioned outside the institute. The design collection was intended for female millennials who prefer a casual look in office wear, seeking traditional appeal with a modern twist but shy away due to exorbitant prices of authentic handcrafted pieces of workmanship. The clothing was designed taking inspiration from structured and unstructured interview schedules, field visits to local markets selling traditional textiles and promotional hubs for artisans works like Suraj Kund Crafts Mela, Hunar Hatt, Delhi Hatt. The cost evaluation of designed end products revealed that the production cost was quite low as all the raw materials ranging from fabrics to trims and notions were upcycled and recycled.

Keywords: Artisans; contemporary craft; eco-friendly; sustainable; hand painting; madhubani; motifs; revival; stencils; traditional

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