Sustainable fashion
A journey of a plant killer turned plant lover Thrifting offers affordable choices and helps reduce the carbon footprint
Igot a small indoor plant as a birthday gift from my friend. Only she did not realise that I am a plant killer, despite my best efforts to grow them. I fell in love with the small plant with heartshaped leaves. The Internet tells me it is called Pothos. I decided that little Pothosu would live and thrive in my house come what may. Pothosu? Yes, the South Indian system of nomenclature runs strong in my genes — add a ‘u’ or an ‘n’ to names and own them.
My father was a government servant and we lived in small towns in big houses with gardens and backyards. My best memories of childhood are the hours spent with siblings and friends under the shade of trees or sometimes sitting on some low branches. We named the trees. Some were good, some evil, and some (the Mango tree) magical. The Jamun tree was a favourite — it would cast a spell on us with its fruits and rustling leaves.
Unfortunately, this affinity with plants faded with time. My lack of gardening skills and life in concrete jungles cut out plants from my life. Or so I thought until I got my gift.
I decided that I would protect and preserve my gift. I did the intelligent thing and consulted two advisers — the friendly neighbourhood gardener and Google guru. When all the stars were aligned propitiously, Pothosu was installed near the French window where it would get the right amount of sunlight (no chance of too much sunlight as I live in Bengaluru). I measured the amount of water that I would pour gently at regular intervals.
Many people believe that plants are sentient beings. They talk to their plants. They say that their plants wilt when there is tension in their house.
You may call me whatever you want — but I talk to Pothosu and find it therapeutic. I know she smiles when I tell her something funny.
Thrift culture is slowly gaining popularity in our country, especially among the youth.
Thrifting refers to the practice of purchasing preowned gently used products, mainly clothing.
Thrift wear or upcycled products are those that are already used by someone, cleaned, retouched and, if needed, embellished and sold. These clothes are sold at a comparatively lower price than the original ones. Thrifting is more common among the Gen Z as it combines fashion and sustainability. It also does not burn a hole in the pocket.
It serves a larger goal of environmental protection. The fashion industry produces more than 150 billion pieces of clothing a year globally. About three in five of these clothing products become waste within years of production; they end up in landfill sites or incinerators. A dress made of polyester, a form of plastic, could take up to 200 years to decompose completely.
Thrifting and upcycling serve the purpose here. Secondhand clothes are ecofriendly as they are being reused with little or no modifications, thereby reducing the carbon footprint.
The damage caused by the fast fashion industry is a driving force behind the shift towards thrifting. This mode of fashion is pocketfriendly. It saves money.
The thrifting culture saw a huge rise during the pandemic when the world was going through economic turmoil. Thrift wear costs much less than new clothes. There are also ample options.
Due to a change in the mindset, thrifting has become more acceptable in India, where wearing secondhand clothes was once looked down upon. While there are a few physical thrift stores in the country, online stores are more popular.
Unlike Western countries, where thrift shopping is quite common and there are large stores dedicated to it, the concept is relatively new in India. But with a steady demand, physical thrift stores have started coming up in Tier1 cities. Physical stores are helpful because the clothing can be checked for fit before buying.
Thrifting will continue to thrive and it is in the best interest of people and the environment. being ambiguous in their thinking and noncommittal and termed Centrists!
In this melee, the one is who is eternally trying to find the middle ground is the common man. I was reminded of my habit of switching between left and right hands when I used to do my schoolwork. My father noticed that my righthanded work was good and insisted that I stick to the right hand. My mother used to say, “Allow him to experiment and maybe over a period of time, he will become ambidextrous!” I do not know whether my father was a Rightist and my mother a Centrist, but the big question that lingers and continues to remain unanswered is can you be politically ambidextrous.