Swim Week Colombo: Going green from start to finish
This year’s edition of Swim Week Colombo aims to promote fashion which is eco-friendly. Working under the theme ‘Green conscious and earth sensitive’, the designers hope to promote ethically sourced eco-friendly designs. Here, a few of the designers speak to the Sunday Times about their eco-friendly designs.
Ajai Vir Singh
Founder of Swim Week Colombo Ajai Vir Singh feels that being eco-friendly should include ethical practices as well. “One of the three pillars we are working under; the impact on the supply chain and helping the community is part of that,” he explains.
Ajai began his brand ‘Conscience’ with the aim of creating a fashion label which could be done while maintaining a clean conscience by having ethical and eco-friendly practices. “We want everything we do to create happiness – we want to create a supply chain of happiness where everything that happens from the designer to the consumer can be positive,” he says.
The brand cannot always maintain each aspect in a completely green way, but he added that they compensated in other ways to overcome the shortcomings in some areas.
“On some points we do fall short but if we’re unable to be green on one aspect then we try to do more than is necessary in another aspect to make up for it,” he says. Every aspect of the brand either uses organic or alternate materials (such as bamboo) or has 0% wastage.
Ajai also uses factories with ethical practices. “There are a lot of variables when it comes to factories – we need to look at whether they are environmentally friendly, whether they use less energy, what their water management is like and what their relationship with their workers is like.
We aim to look for factories which have solutions to all these issues so that there is a positive impact on everyone who comes into contact with our brand,” Ajai says.
They also look at making their packaging eco-friendly and donate part of the proceeds from ‘Conscience’ to an environment empowerment programme which either helps the environment, wildlife or marine life.
Ajai feels that they should not stop there – he explains that they are working on ways to help people dispose of the garments which they buy in an eco friendly way.
“We are trying to partner with someone who disposes of garments in a green way or get involved with something which helps us dispose of everything also in a green way,” he explains, adding that looking after disposal is hard because it is something which he cannot control.
Darshi Keerthisena De Livera
People can support the initiative by buying from green designers even if it is slightly more expensive and supporting a more ethical fashion industry.
“We’re trying very hard to have the costs remain the same but sometimes the costs are a little higher but you can help by buying it because it contributes to a good cause and creates a good cash flow which is important.”
“We don’t claim to be 100% green but we are heading there,” says Najila Ablej Sharhan who with her sister Rusla Ablej Namiq owns the brand ‘Koca’. Najla says she became more conscious about the need to be eco-friendly a few years back and has been trying to be as eco-friendly as she can while maintaining the quality of the brand.
The fabrics she uses are a combination bought from Pettah and Pamunuwa along with luxury fabrics which she buys from overseas. She uses printers who are environmentally conscious and gives them fabrics which have already been cut into panels so that they print only what they require, while any fabric which remains they try to use in other garments.
‘Koca’ mostly employs factories owned by women who have started their own businesses so that they promote the livelihoods of such individuals, while giving only orders which can’t be fulfilled by small scale businesses to larger factories. “Wherever we have an opportunity to promote small scale businesses we do,” she explained.
Najila feels that although there is much awareness overseas, Sri Lankans need to be more environmentally conscious, which would automatically help them become more aware of ethical fashion and other ways in which they can help promote the environment. “When people are more aware of the environment as a whole they will start looking for greener fashion.”
Darshi Keerthisena De Livera of Buddhi Batiks feels that they now look into how their process can be greener – something she learnt after working with Linea Aqua (a company which is part of MAS Holdings). They don’t use toxic dyes and Darshi feels that she is constantly educating herself about how she can be greener. Batiks can be somewhat unfriendly to the environment because the dyes they use can be toxic, while the industry also uses a lot of water and wastes a lot of material. The cost of negating such harmful impacts is what stops many people from looking into other alternatives, she feels.
Najila Ablej Sharhan. Pix by M.D. Nissanka
There is a lot which the consumers can do.“Be aware of what you are buying,” Darshi says, adding that people should demand to know where their garments come from and how ethical the practices of the factories which supply the clothes are.
“After the Rana Plaza collapsed in 2013 there was a movement that came out of it called the fashion revolution and people have participated and remember that and they have a tag-line – who made your clothes. It’s basically about being aware of where you buy your clothes and who made it and if you know how they lived.
Those are questions that the consumer can ask,” she says, adding that just because a garment is high in price does not mean the money travels down to the factory workers. The Rana Plaza was an industrial building which included clothing factories that collapsed in 2013 leaving 1,135 people dead.
Designers should definitely push for greener practices, she feels. “It’s hard and sometimes it’s expensive but sometimes we could be green without spending much.
It’s just the little changes that we do and it’s worth it at the end because you need to think about the future generations. As a mum myself, I want to leave a better place for my daughter,” she says.
Swim Week Colombo will be held from June 27 to July 2 with the runway shows taking place on
June 30 and July 1.