BENGALURU: Every piece of clothing you buy has had an environmental impact even before you buy it. Be it in terms of the water used, the artificial dyeing process or the discard created during the production that adds to the landfill.
Fast fashion, as many researchers have predicted, leaves a pollution footprint, with each step of the clothing life cycle generating potential environmental and occupational hazards.
So, what is the antidote? The answer lies in sustainable and ethical fashion. Keeping up with this is a group of design students from the city who have created ethical and sustainable fabric out of cigarette butts.
“The idea was to create a fashion line that is ethical and sustainable. Inspired by the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan campaign, we tried to generate a fabric from solid waste,” says Anupama Shet.
Along with her classmates Radhika and Meghana, Anupama has created a new sustainable fabric out of cigarette butts, one of the largest contributors of environmental pollution, for their collection.
‘Butt’ Trouble
Over 100 billion cigarette butts are being dumped in India every year. Not only do these contribute to the landfill, but they also pollute water bodies and clog drains. The cellulose acetate polymer found in these butts are non-biodegradable and take around a decade to decompose completely.
“Instead of letting it add to the landfill, we collected these discarded cigarette butts from the streets and pubs on Brigade Road. The cellulose acetate makes the fibre in our project,” explains Anupama.
The students of JD Institute of Fashion Technology approached cigarette production units for the project. “Not all obliged, but a few in the city were ready to give away the discarded cigarettes. We were also out in the streets, picking up used cigarette butts,” says the 22-year-old.
The used cigarette butts and the ones collected from factory units were processed separately initially, with those picked from the street,pubs and bars being sterilised first.
“Following sterlisation, we removed the filter, cleaned it using a solvent,” says Anupama, representing her team – Aagami.
Following the cleaning process, the material was then spun into a yarn.
“The weaving part was a challenge,” says Akash Das, faculty of design at JD Institute of Fashion Technology. The fibres generated off the cigarette butts were mixed with cotton in order to make it into a loom, adds the lecturer.
“The most difficult and arduous process was to come up with the technique to make the fabric out of the butts. Several mentors worked on it and honestly, we didn’t think the project would finish on time. Thankfully, close to the deadline we had a breakthrough and the students pulled it off,”says Akash.
Anupama says that this is just a pilot project to show the way towards sustainable and ethical clothing. “Following this technique, with a collaboration between the municipal corporation and the textile industries, such a fabric can be produced on a large scale,” she says.
The student of Diploma in Fashion Design tells City Express that her college is helping the team apply for a patent on the technique they created to create fabric out of cigarette butts. At the annual design awards show hosted by their college JD Institute of Fashion Technology, the students will be featuring their designer line using the ethical fabric they created.
“Our collection is experimental and features bodycon made with this cigarette fiber. We will also be featuring jackets that we made from old car seats,” says Anupama. The team got material for these jackets from garages.
The show will be held on May 19 and 20.