Women That Made Fashion More Sustainable In 2024

2021 was one of the most transformative years for the fashion industry. With the growing popularity or digital fashion and fashion lovers getting out of their pandemic funk, there was another important factor at play, perhaps one of the most important: sustainability. Here are ninewomen that proved, quite stylishly so, that fashion can be sustainable.

Anita Dongre

It’s hardly possible to talk about sustainability in Indian fashion without mentioning the fashion powerhouse that is Anita Dongre. Her use of traditional as well as new-age sustainable textile for her Grassroots label is well-known and keeps growing as a category. Besides her more permanent commitments to women empowerment, waste management from her factories and supporting animal rights, earlier this year, House of Anita Dongre (HOAD), also joined Canadian environmental organisation Canopy to commit to saving ancient forests. By joining Canopy’s CanopyStyle and Pack4Good initiatives, the designer brand became the first Indian fashion house to do so.

Read more about the initiative HERE

Image Source: economictimes.com

Stella McCartney

“We are literally getting away with murder,” said Stella McCartney said during a virtual speech at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, with some of the world’s most powerful leaders in the audience. The designer’s passion towards bringing forth sustainability in fashion is unmissable through her designer label. The designer, who is also fashion house LVMH’s advisor on sustainability, has been one of the first fashion leaders to pave to the way for plant-based leather alternatives like mushroom-based Mylo. This year, the designer launched her most sustainable collection to date with her Autumn 2021 collection, Our Time Has Come. The collection included a range of athleisure wear, casual denim pieces as well as dressier pieces made using ethically and sustainably sourced materials like eco–friendly viscose, organic cotton, recyclable aluminium, as well as recycled materials like Econyl and recycled polyester sourced from post-consumer waste.

Read more HERE

Image Source: guim.co.uk

Kriti Tula

She’s the creative head and founder of Indian fashion label Doodlage, where she aces upcycled fashion like no one else can. With 2021, Tula took the brand’s upcycling ethos to new heights- first with a creative collaboration with homegrown shoe brand Oceedee, making shoes using waste materials; in another powerful move, the brand also collaborated with Decathlon to restore, repair or upcycle customer returns in a bid to reduce waste from its stores in India. As a part of the collaboration, the sports brand’s Bengaluru store at Brigade Road now includes a segment dedicated to “repaired products” that have been upcycled or repaired by Doodlage using garment waste and customer returns from the store.

Image Source: indiatoday.in

Emma Watson

As a celebrity, one possesses the power to influence countless people and it only makes sense to use that for the environment’s benefit—and that’s exactly what the Harry Potter star is great at. While Watson is known for her conscious red carpet choices, her recent look which included Harris Reed gown made from recycled wedding dresses was one of the most sustainable red carpet highlights of the year.

Image Source: teenvogue.com/

Pernia Qureshi

Stylist-turned-fashion entrepreneur, Pernia Qureshi, made heads turn with her new launch, Saritoria, that kick-started earlier this year. The platform is the world’s first resale store for pre-loved South Asian clothing. Qureshi already runs a sustainable fashion label, Gur Organics, using plant-based and sustainable materials for all garments.

Image Source: thehindu.com

Kirti Poonia

Poonia heads Okhai, a platform that empowers women across rural communities by selling products crafted by them. This year she won the Business World Women Entrepreneurship Award for Social Impact for her impact through Okhai. Poonia started with Okhai back in 2015 with just 350 women in Gujarat, a number that has grown to 2,300 since.

Image Source: medium.com

Vidya Sethi

Founder of conscious label, Maikai, which started amidst the pandemic last year, Vidya is changing the face of sports and workout wear in India, making it more sustainable. This year, she has gone on to add sportswear sets and joggers to her game changing range of made to measure cotton bras.

Image Source: Instagram/theetemptress

Alia Bhatt

Actor-turned-entrepreneur, Alia Bhatt, recently unveiled a new conscious kidswear label, Ed-a-mamma. The brand’s sustainability ethos is well-thought of from all aspects. From sustainable and organic fabrics, trims to adding a potli of seed balls with each garment, the brand is all set to make the category of kidswear more sustainable. Bhatt has also invested in Phool, a brand that recycled discarded temple flowers to create incense and plant-based leather.

Image Source: Instagram/aliabhatt

Aashita Jain

Jain runs circular fashion brand Punah:, providing not only upcycled products but also upcycling services for clients. In 2021, they launched a new concept of products: Do-It-Yourself Upcycling Kits. The idea behind the kits was to encourage upcycling and make it more fun, providing all upcycling supplies one would need for a clothes makeover.

Image Source: Instagram/sustainableandartjournal