"One of the biggest concerns of our times is the environment, and the situation is worsening by the minute. Only that it is being more acutely felt in the West, than it is in India. My "ALCIS X NARI" collection is trying to contribute to the sustainability movement by recycling a waste product and creating something affordable out of it, Ahmed told life.
According to the designer, a lot of what is heard with regard to sustainable fashion is designer products, which are not meant for everyday use. "I want to break that myth. To create a designer product that's sustainable and available at a great price. This collection is the first of its kind affordable ath-leisure and sportswear collection."
Ahmed said affordability was a key to the collection, the price points in which start below Rs 1,000 and go up to Rs 2,500. "The idea was that an outfit should be make a difference to your daily life, rather than to one or two occasions. The material used is recycled plastic yarn, the origin of which you can trace and verify. And we've used a technologies like dry-tech, anti-static, anti-odour, UV-resistant, which are used only in high-class performance wear," he added.
According to him, sustainable fashion will only make a difference if people can afford to wear it and make a change in their lifestyle everyday. "You can't wear something one day and feel like you've contributed to the whole environment and sustainability movement. It won't work unless sustainability becomes a part and parcel of your life, in every way," he said.
He further elaborated: "One should not use plastic, say no plastic, especially no single use plastic, because there is all this plastic waste. The only way to tackle this is to one recycle it. Two, do what we've done, which is for the first time created a 100 per cent recycled line, which stands at par with any big sportswear brand in the world today in both quality, design. And three, make it affordable, more people can wear it."
(life can be contacted at life@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )