It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable
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TOP STORY
Heritage Crisis / Zari Work

3 December 2025

 10 minutes

The Battle for Authentic Zari Reveals Deeper Faultlines in Indian Craftwork

The precious metal heart of real zari is in crisis. From nearly 30 families processing silver a few decades ago, barely four or five remain today. With demand shrinking, costs climbing, and the younger generation turning away, the survival of this centuries-old craft hangs by a thread — its future uncertain, and its decline starkly visible.

In an era where authenticity is increasingly elusive, the ancient, hand-engineered craft of zari is caught in a deepening crisis. Pure zari, painstakingly wrought from silver, gold and copper in Surat’s shrinking cottage clusters, is now overshadowed by an ever-expanding tide of cheap metallic substitutes. As precious metal prices soar, purity wavers, and fakes flood the market, the last generation of real-zari makers confronts a future as fragile as the filaments they draw.

  • Richa Bansal
 Feature
Latest: Updates
Fibre Innovation / New Launch Interview
A shift toward circular materials is prompting fashion to rethink where value begins, and how overlooked waste streams can shape the next phase of fibre innovation.

A New 'Circular' Fibre Launch Redraws How Fashion Handles Its Material Waste

  • Special Correspondent

2 December 2025
Circularity Issues / Trims Interview
Circularity ambitions meet practical limits when the smallest material decisions shape the viability of large-scale recycling pathways.

Trims Becoming the Hidden Faultline Splitting Circular Ambitions From Industrial Reality

  • Subir Ghosh

1 December 2025
Other Top Stories
Biomaterials / Pigment
Analysis of the research team's fabric revealed that it had an average total reflectance of 0.13%, making it the darkest fabric yet reported. And it remained ultrablack across a 120-degree angular span, meaning it appears the same at up to a 60-degree angle either side or straight on, superior to currently available commercial materials.

The Darkest Colour in Textiles: Ultrablack Redefined

  • Staff Writer

5 December 2025
 
ITF Intertex Spain 2025
CIRCULARITY / RECYCLING / SECONDS / WASTE
Fashion's vulnerability intensifies as climate projections threaten half the world's cotton crops by 2040, making circular material strategies essential for managing geopolitical sourcing instability.

Fashion Can’t Spin Circularity Anymore Without Hard Evidence on the Table

The fashion sector continues to struggle with inconsistent data, fragmented supply chains and growing regulatory pressure, limiting progress on circularity. The updated Circular Transition Indicators guidance aims to overcome these challenges with refined methodologies and clearer regulatory alignment. Elisabetta Rocchi, Associate for Circular Products and Materials at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, outlines how the sector-specific edition strengthens measurement and implementation.

Subir Ghosh
 
Morocco Fashion Tex 2026
FLASHPOINT: CLIMATE
GHG Emissions / Localisation
Industry groups have referenced the paper when examining how localised production and renewable energy could intersect with existing supplier networks and certification mechanisms for sustainable apparel manufacturing.

Lifecycle and Microfibre Assessment Finds Regional Manufacturing Can Outperform Global Polyester Supply Chains

  • Staff Writer
 Update

5 November 2025

Locally produced circular sportswear could have a smaller environmental footprint than a conventional polyester garment reference, a new lifecycle and microfibre assessment has modelled. Renewable-energy use, shorter transport routes, and circular design choices together could reduce climate impacts and microplastic emissions, the researchers have contended.

Climate Action / WRAP Roadmap
Collaboration between signatories, retailers, and charities has expanded reuse and recycling networks, capturing thousands of tonnes of textiles that would otherwise have become waste.

Circular Dreams at Risk: WRAP Sounds Alarm on Textile Growth Outpacing Climate Targets

  • Staff Writer
 Update

29 October 2025

Climate action NGO WRAP has unveiled a new UK Textiles Pact Roadmap to fast-track circularity and environmental progress across the industry. Despite per-tonne cuts in carbon and water use, soaring production volumes and linear business models threaten to erase those gains. The Roadmap strengthens collaboration, targets upstream emissions, and supports policy reforms for a resilient circular future.

 
COLUMNS
 
Saudi Fashion Tex 2026
EXCLUSIVES
 
FOCUS: COTTON
The rise in imports reflects short-term domestic supply constraints and competitive global prices, particularly for higher staple-length cotton.

‘MSP Isn’t Distorting Prices’: CCI Head on Imports, Yields, and the Road to Cotton Stability

The single largest cotton trading company and a public sector undertaking under the Union Ministry of Textiles, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), established in 1970, undertakes price support and commercial purchase operations to safeguard the economic interest of farmers in the cotton growing regions and to ensure its smooth supply to the textile industry. A Q&A with its Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, Lalit Kumar Gupta.

Richa Bansal
From sowing to spinning, every segment of India’s cotton value chain is under stress, affected by rising costs, outdated technology, and fragmented policy oversight across ministries.

Frayed Futures: India’s Cotton Crop Unspooling Fast

  • Richa Bansal
 Report

3 November 2025
 
 
SPOTLIGHT ARTICLES: MOST READ
 
SPOTLIGHT EDITIONS: SELECT 4
Cotton for Good 2024 7 Oct 2024
One Crop, One Fibre, Many Stories
State of Leather 2024 21 Oct 2024
Has to be Leather All the Way!
 

Highlights: Sea Change

"Quote Unquote"

Dr Arup Rakshit
Dr Arup Rakshit
Director
Man Made Textiles Research Association
In the early years, MANTRA focused mainly on testing and R&D support for the textile industry in Surat. It provided services to weaving units, dyeing units, and processing houses. Over time, the scope expanded. Technical textiles emerged as a new focus area, and MANTRA started taking up projects in geotextiles, medical textiles, and other specialised areas.
MORE: To Remain Competitive Globally, Surat Must Embrace Sustainability

"Quote Unquote"

Andrew Olah
Andrew Olah
Founder / Owner
Transformers Foundation / Kingpins Show
Suppliers are scared of the brands knowing what they think; so, they smile at the brands, invite them for lunch, and then tell us what they think of their behaviour, and we have more than 50 of these kinds of reactions—private concerns, and public smiles out of fear. That itself shows how unethical our industry is. People are frightened to tell the truth.
MORE: Fear of Speaking Out Keeps Denim Suppliers Silent on Unethical Brand Practices in Supply Chains
 
 
FOCUS: LEATHER
The AILPA 2025 exhibition underscored Kolkata’s emergence as a global platform connecting Indian manufacturers with international leather buyers.

India’s Leather Industry Repositions as Global Buyers Converge on Kolkata

Kolkata’s hosting of AILPA 2025 represented more than an industry event—it symbolised India’s recalibration within shifting global trade currents. Amid market disruptions and evolving tariff landscapes, the city emerged as a key platform connecting manufacturers and international buyers, highlighting the sector’s growing capability, design sophistication, and readiness for the premium export market.

Vasan Suri
Lineapelle 2025 demonstrated that the industry is ready to communicate in a different way. The collaboration between UNIC, Lineapelle, La Conceria, Is It Leather?, and voices like Volkan’s marks the beginning of a more open, consumer-connected era. But collaboration must extend to influencers, educators, and storytellers, people who can speak the language of the next generation of consumers.

The Power of Storytelling, Community and Leather’s Next Chapter

  • Blake Garavaglia
 Commentary

14 October 2025
 
 
ATTENTION: DENIM
 
COMPANY NEWS / PRESS RELEASES
 
Young India Fashion Survey 2025