Zero waste fashion

Zero means no quantity or nothing and waste is eliminated or discarded as no

longer useful or required after the completion of the process .

Therefore, the process of discarding nothing in the creation of fashion is zero

waste fashion.

It refers to items of clothing that generate little or no textile waste in their

production. It can be considered to be a part of the boarder sustainable fashion

movement.

Unlike latest technologies being introduced in the clothing industry for sustainable

fashion, zero waste technique is a complete change in the traditional pattern

making process. Zero waste techniques have been used earlier for making

garments like Kimonos, Saris, Chiton, and other folk costumes. These traditional

clothes make use of the concept of utilization of the whole width of a fabric. Hence contrary to conventional garment manufacturing units, where twenty percent of the fabric is wasted by scraps and the negative spaces created for pattern pieces,

zero waste clothes are designed by using technically advanced methods of pattern making, in order to use a fabric from selvedge to selvedge.

At present there are many approaches and techniques of zero waste design which

include draping, pattern cutting, and knitting. With the advent of slow fashion and rise in the demand for clothing created sustainably and ethically, there are many

designers who have ventured into the art of creating garments with minimal waste.

The fashion industry produce more than 8% of green house gases and 20% of

globalwaste water annually. 85%of textile end up in landfills.

Zero waste fashion can be divided into two general approach.

1.Pre-consumer zero waste fashion

Eliminates waste during manufacturers

2.Post-consumer zero waste fashion

Generates clothing from post consumer garments such as second hand

clothing, eliminating waste at what would normally be the end of the product use

life of a garment.

With the importance of sustainability growing by and large across apparel

manufacturers and the textile industry, the concept of zero waste design, needs to

progress from individual designers to mass markets and towards commercialization to change the way textiles are being used and building positive environmental results.