It was very interesting indeed, to have attended the India Fashion Forum and deep dive into the thick of Indian fashion industry. An incredible number of brands were present - both of Indian and foreign origin that sell in India. From listening to founders and heads of organizations, to attending masterclasses, to being on juries, to being a part of awards giving, it was quite a 360* experience. What was utterly interesting, was the huge contrast between the last conference I attended in 2018, where a famous designer blatantly greenwashed in the opening plenary session, saying he practices both fast and slow fashion, where there was a minimal mention of sustainability in the conference, to now… we’ve come a long way for sure!
Here’s how:
* Organic farmers were felicitated on stage
* There were many talks on the importance of longer lasting designs or slow fashion as opposed to fast fashion - Importance of creating designs that pull customers, that customers wait for, as opposed to mindlessly stacking racks and racks of the same and more of the same
* Talks on the importance of looking at the viability of business and backend economics instead of continuous pandering to insatiable customers by giving incredulous discounts, accepting returns with no conditions, delivering yesterday and so on
* Importance of being loyal to what the brand is, and coming from there, rather than blindly routing for Gen Z as being the largest population to target next
* Going back to, or considering the importance of traditional business models, instead of the highly unsustainable bottomless funding-based ones
* Brands working towards diversity & inclusivity
* A couple of big marketplaces saying they want curated sustainable brands and not flood their platforms with any and all
It gives me hope to see this but time will tell if tougher conversations on dead stocks disposal, circularity, growth, worker-centric issues and many other grave issues can also ensue. More importantly, it remains to be seen, what actually will translate to ground reality, and how much, and most crucially - in how much time... before it's too late??!!
Heartfelt thanks to NIFTA for inviting me to speak and kudos to IFF for organising such a huge and complex event with such simplicity and efficiency!!
Shailesh Chaturvedi NIFTA - Association of NIFT Alumni Rajat Wahi Gopal Asthana India Fashion Forum Fairtrade India Rohit Aneja Devangshu Dutta Smita Bhatia Iti Rawat Nandita Abraham Narendra Kumar Dr.Sanyogita Chadha Karunesh Vir Vohra Vinay Hinge Pakhi Saxena Harminder Sahni Stefan Krueger Gautam Kotamraju
