Women Innovators Reshaping Sustainable Fashion in India, One Thread at a Time
Neha Suradkar
Assistant Professor,
Amity School of Fashion Technology,
Amity University Maharashtra, Mumbai
India’s textile industry is undergoing a green revolution, led by a new wave of women entrepreneurs who blend innovation with sustainability. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “Fashion for Environment and Empowerment” underlines the nation’s vision for this sector. The Textile Industry employs over 45 million people, and women are at the forefront of this transformation. Women entrepreneurs across India are reinventing textiles by developing bio-based materials and upcycled fabrics. Let’s look at these women-led start-ups that are driving social change and environmental impact. AltMat, founded by Shikha Shah, transforms agricultural waste like hemp, banana and pineapple waste to create "Alt Yarn"- a biodegradable, antibacterial fibre requiring less water than cotton. AltMat creates a sustainable supply chain that provides extra income to farmers for their agri-waste, while offering antibacterial and UV-resistant fabrics. In Northeast India, Sanajing Sana Thambal, founded by Bijiyashanti Tongbram, revives lotus silk, a heritage eco-fibre. Bijiyashanti, a botanist-turned-entrepreneur, extracts silk-like fibre from lotus stems in Manipur's Loktak Lake. Lotus fabric is among the world's rarest textiles, made traditionally in Myanmar and Cambodia. Bijiyashanti's work puts India on this sustainable fabric map. She has taught 40 women to harvest and spin lotus fibres, creating scarves and ties from a once-discarded plant. This blend of craft and enterprise produces an organic, biodegradable textile while generating rural employment. Tega Collective, founded by fashion advocate Niharika Elety, champions indigenous Adivasi textiles. The collective co-creates contemporary apparel with tribal artisans, including Lambani craftswomen in Karnataka. By using native plant-based dyes, traditional embroidery motifs, and handloom weaving of fabrics like Khadi and Eri Silk, the brand preserves age-old techniques in modern designs. The brand illustrates cultural innovation, where sustainable fashion empowers indigenous communities. Bunko Junko, founded by Bhavini Parikh, is India's first government-registered textile upcycling brand. With decades in garment manufacturing, Parikh was dismayed by pre-consumer textile scraps, misprinted fabrics, cutting waste, and rejected garments, ending up incinerated or in landfills. Bunko Junko transforms these scraps into new fashions and home goods. Zero waste is central: even tiny leftover bits become plantable seed paper for tags and cards. The upcycled products reduce landfill load while offering a unique aesthetic. The brand collaborates with NGOs to train and employ women artisans to stitch off-cuts into products. Juhu Beach Studio (JBS), co-founded by designers Prakruthi Rao and Akshara Mehta in Mumbai, repurposes textile waste. With an all-women team, JBS transforms discarded cloth into sustainable fashion and décor. They source pre-consumer and post-consumer textile waste, using traditional handwork to create durable accessories, like hats, bags, and home décor, showing that sustainability can be stylish. JBS is "redefining the relationship between style and sustainability," proving that upcycled products can be desirable for years. Homegrown brand Diti, founded by Diti Mistry, collects waste fabric from local tailors, weaving clusters and boutiques across India, upcycling it into home décor items. The idea is to decentralise waste collection and involve communities in contributing scraps, which are then designed into cushions, wall hangings, and décor. Diti believes that products should not only look good but also do good for the environment. Such approaches strengthen a circular economy in textiles, keeping materials in use and extending their life. Théla (Thela), founded by graphic designer Diti Kotecha, is a Mumbai brand turning discarded plastics into fashion accessories. Kotecha's love for traditional crafts led her to employ handloom weavers who weave waste plastic strips into fabric, crafting colourful totes, wallets, and apparel. By making plastic collection economically attractive, Théla creates livelihoods for waste-pickers while diverting plastic from landfills. The process is low-energy, and zero-waste fabrics are woven to exact bag sizes, and trimmings go to recycling initiatives. ReCharkha – The EcoSocial Tribe in Pune upcycles waste plastic into hand-woven fabrics. Founder Amita Deshpande developed a process to clean and cut multilayer plastic waste into yarn, which tribal women weave on charkha and handlooms. The result is products, like tote bags, mats, apparel, and notebooks, with a distinctive woven texture of repurposed plastic. All ReCharkha's products are handmade by rural and tribal women and youth, providing stable incomes in eco-friendly jobs. This addresses waste and rural unemployment, a powerful example of social innovation through green textiles. Designer Karishma Shahani Khan's label Ka-Sha has integrated sustainability into high fashion. Her collections use reclaimed materials: discarded onion sacks, wires, scrap fabric and plastic in avant-garde ways on the runway. Ka-Sha's "Heart to Haat" project demonstrates creative upcycling, taking old or defective Ka-Sha garments and textile scraps to make new products, like footwear, toys, or quilts, ensuring material reuse. Ka-Sha demonstrates that sustainable design can achieve commercial success and acclaim, providing a blueprint for larger brands. Balancing Purpose with Profit: Scaling the Green Textile Ventures Women-led sustainable textile ventures brim with creativity and purpose but face the critical challenge of scaling up and achieving profitability, as many began as passion-driven initiatives. Upcycled products, while eco-conscious, are often labour-intensive and costlier than mass-produced alternatives, limiting mass market appeal. Most brands prioritise impact over immediate returns, trusting in long-term gains. Many are diversifying into B2B collaborations, product innovation, and global retail to scale. Storytelling and impact metrics, such as waste saved or livelihoods created, help these ventures stand out and attract CSR funding, investors, and grants. Supportive ecosystems, including women-focused accelerators, awards, and incubators, are proving instrumental, offering mentorship, credibility, and funding to help these mission-driven businesses grow without compromising their values. The Policy and Market Ecosystem Fuelling Sustainable Textiles The rise of women-led sustainable textile ventures in India is reinforced by evolving government policies, growing consumer awareness, and expanding market demand for eco-friendly products. Initiatives like PM MITRA, state textile incentives, and circular economy campaigns create infrastructure and awareness that benefit these startups. Simultaneously, programs like Samarth, SIDBI’s credit schemes, and NRLM empower women and rural artisans, while collaborations with institutes like Design Clinic India help improve market access. A shift in consumer values, especially among urban millennials, and growing international demand for authentic, ethical products are positioning Indian eco-textile brands as premium, export-ready offerings. Challenges like access to green capital, technological upgrades, and stronger retail linkages must be addressed to fully realise this potential. Encouragingly, a maturing ecosystem of incubators, sustainability showcases, and policy support is steadily levelling the path from passion-driven startup to scalable enterprise for women textile entrepreneurs. From Manipur’s lotus fields to Mumbai’s upcycling studios, India’s women eco-entrepreneurs are weaving a future where sustainability, social impact, and entrepreneurship intersect. By transforming banana stems, plastic waste, and textile scraps into viable products, they reduce pollution and empower farmers, artisans, and women, embodying a holistic environmental and cultural sustainability model. As more women-led brands scale up, they can redefine India’s textile industry as a hub of regenerative growth and inclusive innovation. In challenging the norms of fast fashion, these pioneers are crafting a compelling new storyline, where the fabric of India’s future is ethical, eco-conscious, and designed by women!