Published
Jan 17, 2018
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Fast fashion threatens Panipat's recycling industry and the environment

Published
Jan 17, 2018

As fast fashion brands are increasingly creating clothing for even cheaper than recycled pieces, Panipat’s textile recycling industry has come under threat, and in turn so has the environment.

As fast fashion brands are increasingly creating clothing for even cheaper than recycled pieces, Panipat’s textile recycling industry has come under threat - Enactus- Facebook


The city of Panipat, India, has around 200 businesses dedicated to textile recycling and is a hub for the trade recycling the largest number of woollen garments worldwide for the last 20 years. However, in recent months, demand for the cloth known as “shoddy”, which is made from recycled yarn taken from old woollen clothing, has dropped due to modern technology producing new alternatives, reported the Economic Times.

Many factories in China can now produce the disaster relief blankets that were previously made of shoddy for almost the same price but using new materials. This has taken trade away from Panipat and also caused some of the cities businesses to switch to this form of production. Although trade is still going in Panipat, with 50 businesses switching to the Chinese style fleece blankets increasingly used for disaster relief, this is worrying for the fashion industry at large.

With cheaper clothing becoming accessible across India, and with many high-street stores now targeting Tier 2 and 3 cities, there is more and more waste. However, despite there being an increase in the supply of second hand clothing, there is a decrease in the demand from countries such as India. This increase in garment waste poses a real threat to the environment, already suffering from the chemical heavy fast fashion garment production process. Many Indian brands and consumer are now embracing sustainability as a ore value when shopping but the scale of the sustainable fashion movement needs to drastically increase if this problem is to be solved. 

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