Market for green apparel grows

The fashion industry is in need of a revolution and many companies are taking note of the growing demand for eco-friendly apparel. Currently this sector only accounts for less than 1% of the total branded apparel market in India but it has potential to grow to about 5% of the total market in the next five years.

With the rise in environmental awareness and growing market for anything labelled 'green' these clothes are not new in other parts of the world. In India however, they are something of a novelty and many clothing manufacturers are now incorporating a variety of eco-friendly fabrics, dyes and processes into clothing manufacture.

Van Heusen was one of the first big brand names to launch such a range in April to great success. Arrow is another brand that has expanded its range to include organic garments. Levi-Eco is said to launch in India soon. The range from Levi's features organic cotton, buttons made of coconut shell and natural dyes. It has eliminated metal rivets and the label is made from recycled cardboard. Designers have also jumped on the bandwagon of eco-friendly clothing with Anita Dongre leading the way.

High street brand, Benetton plans to retail its range of eco-friendly garments at selective outlets. Due to the price difference in manufacture, Benetton's range will be priced 30% higher. Many clothing manufacturers still see eco-friendly clothing as a premium sector. Inspite of this, a majority of clothing manufactures believe that India has a good future for eco-friendly garments.

Organic, eco-friendly clothing is not just going to be seen as a high-priced commodity item in the future. The idea is to make ethically sourced fashion accessible and to eventually replace this with conventionally produced garments. Our obsession with throwaway fashion is responsible for poor working conditions of garment workers as well as environmental degradation. As highlighted recently by Emma Watson with her label People Tree, the people that suffer most from mass manufacture are garment workers in poor countries. India is one of the biggest producers of organic cotton for foreign markets, it is time that Indians also start demanding a better product from clothing manufacturers.