The ReFashion Hub: Starting ‘Fair Fashion Movement’ in India

The Hub functions as a dialogue platform that engages leading thought leaders, fashion businesses, industry experts, and other actors for collective action in order to set milestones for pivoting to a fair fashion framework in India.

New Delhi: Kickstarting a ‘Fair Fashion Movement’ in India, fashion campaign ‘RE: Think, Act, Create’ has launched The ReFashion Hub — a convening platform that brings together voices from both mainstream fashion and sustainable fashion.

The Hub functions as a dialogue platform that engages leading thought leaders, fashion businesses, industry experts, and other actors for collective action in order to set milestones for pivoting to a fair fashion framework in India.

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As a part of the campaign, an online garment donation drive-Re purposed – with NGOs in Mumbai and India’s first digital local textile museum Karkhana Chronicles was also launched recently.

The campaign advocates for stronger commitments for sustainability and “fairness” in fashion in the post-Covid 19 scenario across India and is actively engaging millennial consumers, influencers.

In its first edition, The ReFashion Hub has brought together over 10 leaders including Shefalee Vasudev, Nonita Kalra, Pragya Tiwari, Daniel Fernandes, and Amrita Puri to explore over six themes around Fair Fashion.

Some of the themes revolve around understanding the impact of mental health on fast fashion, the scalability of sustainable fashion in India, and the trends that have arisen in the past few years in the fashion industry.

To encourage people to live a fashionably sustainable life, well-known stand-up comedian Daniel Fernandes encourages his fans to, “Start creating an inventory of your existing clothes. Once you’ve decided what you’re keeping, do not throw away the rest. Give them to somebody who needs them. And if you do buy new clothes, you must give away the equivalent amount and that you won’t end up hoarding.”

Speaking about the need for Fair Fashion and dialogue around it, fashion designer Payal Jain says: “The last decade has been brutal for our environment. The time has come, when ‘Change’ is the only way for us to sustain and survive. Today, when our very existence is in question, it is imperative for us to come together as a fraternity. Let us Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Revive, and Reinvent. I urge you to make this your mission and together we can be the change”

Fashion designer Rina Dhaka comments: “Sustainability is not just about the finished product but one should also consider the complete process. For fashion, we should be ethical about how we work. Continuing to sustain a craft or a design language that handholds that craft is as important to keeping sustainability alive in today’s environment”.

Talking about the ways one can reduce waste and reuse in fashion, veteran fashion designer Leena Singh of Ashima-Leena label says: “Restoration is a part of sustainable fashion for me. I send them to my weavers and they are rewoven and so, I have been able to create something new from the old. Sustainable fashion is something you can use for a longer time. Classic and timeless!”