15 Sustainable Fashion Brands From India Worth Having on Your Radar
By Jharna Pariani
With its rich cultural heritage, textile traditions, and significant role as a global resource for craftsmanship, India holds a unique position as the fashion industry shifts towards a more sustainable future. Ahead, find 15 Indian sustainable fashion brands that are harnessing the country’s assets for all the world to see.
What Does Ethical and Slow Fashion in India Look Like?
As one of the world’s largest garment manufacturers that employs over 45 million people, fashion businesses from across the globe have been no strangers to commissioning their work to Indian artisans. In fact, nearly every state in India is home to several craft clusters — each one more unique than the other.
Unfortunately, cultural globalisation has left traditional Indian artisanship vulnerable to appropriation, diluting intricate handicrafts to mere digital prints in mass-market iterations that are stealing directly from the pockets of artisans. Many of whom are unable to sustain themselves on a fair living wage, especially since the pandemic.
However, skilled labor isn’t the only asset Indians are known for. India is also the largest producer of organic cotton in the world, with regenerative farming practices that are quickly picking up pace.
Keeping these factors in mind, we tracked down an enterprising mix of designers who are reviving India’s vulnerable crafts, handwoven textiles, ancient techniques, and hand embroideries through their slow fashion brands that are empowering artisan clusters across the country.
These designers are incorporating everything from natural dyes, deadstock fabrics, plant-based fibers and processes that use less water and energy. Read on to learn more about the 15 sustainable clothing brands from India you need to know about.
Where to Find Sustainable Fashion Brands Based Out of India
1. No Nasties
Just as its namesake signifies, No Nasties is a fair trade, organic, and vegan clothing brand whose key focus is creating planet positive clothing that offsets the carbon footprint of every product they make. They achieve this ambitious goal by investing in offset projects like solar power, wind energy, forest protection and replanting.
The brand has also commissioned Green Story, a third-party life-cycle analysis platform that factors in the supply chain, material composition, and fabric consumption for every product they make, to help them calculate their footprint.
Expect to find a range of repeat-worthy everyday essentials for men and women in breezy organic cotton made using herbal and all-natural dyes.
Price: $$
Materials: Organic cotton
2. The Summer House
If you’re seeking clothing that can take you from work to off-duty errands without sacrificing comfort or style this season, then look no further. The Summer House has all the warm-weather essentials you need.
The brand is driven by an inspiring mission to bridge the gap between ancient Indian craftsmanship and modern wardrobes. They achieve this by working with rural artisans to sustain and revive vulnerable craft communities and help them make the shift from exploitative practices. In its journey so far, The Summer House has managed to partner with 17 craft clusters across India to design one-of-a-kind textiles and handmade garments made with organic fabrics.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Organic cotton, tencel, khadi and other handwoven fabrics
3. Okhai
Women empowerment is at the very heart of everything Okhai does in its operations. The brand offers handcrafted clothing and lifestyle products that are made by rural artisans from all over the country.
Its mission is to uplift female artisans from underprivileged backgrounds and rural areas by helping them improve their financial and social standing within their communities through fair living wages and decent work. This noble pursuit is reflected in their intricately detailed clothing designed in a vibrant spectrum of colors.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Cotton
4. The Terra Tribe
A slow fashion brand that believes in delivering quality through short production runs, expect to find a range of timelessly tailored womenswear styles made from entirely locally manufactured Tencel, complete with recycled metal trims.
Inspired by the Latin word for earth, The Terra Tribe lives up to its name through its earthy assortment of colors used in its clothing. These clothes have been dyed using Indian madder vines, natural indigo, iron vinegar, and leaves.
The brand's Collingwood Oversized Jacket in copper brown is an absolute masterpiece!
Price: $$
Materials: Tencel
5. Sui
Inspired by the Indian name for a needle, Sui is a slow fashion brand that works with vetted NGOs within India to support underprivileged women in the handloom sector.
Every piece at Sui is treated with herbal dyes and made from fabrics like organic cotton, hemp, linen and other handwoven textiles. Their current range of styles includes covetable warm-weather essentials like this ’gram-worthy dress and this embroidery-detail jacket that has us swooning.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Cotton, organic cotton, hemp, linen, tencel and other handwoven fabrics
6. Grassroot by Anita Dongre
One of India’s most successful designers, Anita Dongre’s Grassroot label consists of ethically made sustainable clothing that nurtures artisanship and preserves traditions by employing female artisans from villages who are the custodians of ancient Indian crafts.
From traditional sarees, kurta sets and even a few dresses, Grassroot’s range of clothing is every bit as vibrant, as it is detailed. Embellished with intricate thread work that is hand-embroidered or dyed using time-honored techniques, these clothes are bound to take you on a traditional trip across India.
The best part? Their kurta sets can easily double up as separates. Consider styling your side-slitted kurta with denim shorts for a bohemian, vacation-ready look. Feel free to accessorize with some bangles for good measure.
Price: $$$-$$$$
Materials: Cotton and silk
7. Oshadi
Pronounced as aw-sh-dhi, Oshadi translates to the essence of nature or a healing plant in Sanskrit — a name that aptly defines their sustainable mission. The brand started out as a womenswear label in 2016 and has now gone on to become a ‘seed-to-sew’ vertically integrated sustainable supply chain..
Oshadi grows cotton and indigo on their own farm using restorative practices, putting nutrients back into the soil to support its regenerative fashion mission. For Oshadi’s founder, Nishanth Chopra, “Circularity doesn’t just leave a loophole for things to fall out of the supply chain. It just goes round and round. And if there is a loophole, you fill it in with something that builds it back, gives it meaning, repurposes, rebuilds and recreates reciprocity, until it goes back on.”
Apart from focusing on its humble mission, Oshadi offers a range of intricately dyed organic cotton clothing.
Learn more about the brand and its initiative on this episode of the Conscious Style Podcast.
Materials: Organic and regenerative cotton
8. Doodlage
A brand whose sole mission is to turn waste into fashion, Doodlage uses deadstock fabric to create timeless pieces that are bound to change the way you perceive ‘patchwork’ forever.
Their silhouettes feel young and fresh, as patterns mix and match in a seamless manner that seems far from out of place and looks nothing like your grandma’s quilt.
Don’t just take our word for it, let the Clara and Frida dresses speak for themselves.
Price: $$
Materials: Cotton and rayon
9. Maati by Neha Kabra
Based out of the scenic city of Udaipur, in Rajasthan, Maati designs understated everyday staples that will win over your hearts for their minimally chic aesthetic.
The brand works with communities in and around the city to create unique handloom fabrics that barely consume any water and energy in the production process. These fabrics are then treated with natural dyes that come from turmeric, indigo plant, and other flowers.
Their garments are manufactured by local artisans in Rajasthan who are offered a sustainable livelihood through fair wages and good working conditions.
Price: $$
Materials: Handwoven fabrics
10. 11.11/ eleven eleven
A slow fashion brand that’s every minimalist’s dream aesthetic, 11.11 clothing is rooted in timelessness and offers a wide range of responsibly made pieces that promise longevity and versatility.
The brand employs a group of artisans across the country to harness heritage techniques like hand spinning, handloom weaving, tie-dye, hand painting, and quilting, to create clothes made from indigenous cotton colored with all-natural dyes.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Cotton
11. Nicobar
Nicobar is a mindful brand that creates timeless clothing made from organic cotton, tencel, recycled wool and cupro modal. The brand collaborates with small communities across the country to develop their Merino wool scarves and works with fair trade factory partners to manufacture their clothing.
Since its inception, they’ve managed to cut down 85% of plastic in its packaging and are constantly finding ways to improve its operations.
Their range of breezy wrap dresses has all the makings of a classic going-out ensemble.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Organic cotton, linen, silk, tencel, recycled wool and cupro modal
12. B Label
B Label is an extension of the enterprising Bombay Hemp Company that’s changing the image of hemp in India. The brand is on a humble mission to educate its customers about the many environmental benefits that come from the fiber, through its minimalist range of clothing. And rightfully so!
Hemp fabric is softer and more durable than conventional cotton, offers an impressive ability to resist UV rays, and is known to replenish the soil, all while absorbing an impressive amount of atmospheric carbon during its growth phase — giving the plant a vital role in reversing climate change.
Price: $$
Materials: Hemp
13. Iro Iro
Iro Iro started with the sole aim to reduce and upcycle waste produced by their parent company in Rajasthan that manufactures garments and exports them. In the process of doing so, the brand expanded its focus to handloom weaving to uplift the craft communities (especially women) and help them earn a fair wage, not just a minimum one.
Iro Iro marries its upcycling techniques with handwoven fabrics to offer up a versatile range of separates and dresses that are textured and intricately detailed.
Price: $$
Materials: Handwoven fabrics and textile waste
14. Ka-Sha
Ka-Sha is a celebration of Indian handicrafts that revives age-old techniques like appliqué embroidery, quilting, dip-dyeing, tie-dye and hand painting to turn them into contemporary silhouettes that are every bit as fresh, as they are detailed.
The brand has also come up with a ‘Heart to Haat’ initiative that allows its patrons to bring in their pre-loved clothes to upcycle and repurpose them into a renewed part of their closet or home.
We love Ka-Sha’s collection of reversible clothing that offers versatile pieces that can be styled in two ways for the price of one.
Price: $$-$$$
Materials: Cotton and handwoven fabrics
15. Roopa Pemmaraju
Roopa Pemmaraju’s luxurious slow fashion label is a tribute to India’s time-honored craft techniques that are particularly visible through her colorfully vibrant designs.
By investing and supporting artisans that practice hand weaving and block printing techniques, her eponymous label aims at honoring Indian artisans through social and ethical responsibility.
While her label may be rooted in India, Roopa Pemmaraju’s brand retails out of the United States.
Price: $$$-$$$$
Materials: Silk, cotton and velvet
About the Author:
Jharna Pariani is a fashion writer and creative strategist whose work is rooted in honesty and deep observation of the world around her. When she isn’t busy penning down her thoughts, she moonlights as a video editor creating fashion and food reels on Instagram for several brands and influencers.
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Cover image credit: Ka-Sha