“Green Fashion means concept, design and creation of textiles in an eco-friendly manner. Cultivating cotton using no chemical and only natural fertilizers as well as sustenance and conservation of environment is a global need and special efforts need to be made to achieve this. The Government of Maharashtra is committed to this and will erect Special Textile Parks for the creation of eco-friendly textiles and Government of Maharashtra will lend special support for establishing such industries” announced Textile Minister Chandrakant (Dada) Patil. He also appealed to the Fashion Designing students to conduct more and more research with a view to maximum implementation of such eco-friendly initiatives. He also noted that ‘Recycle, Reuse and Reduce’ should be the key objective while creating any Design.
Consortium of Green Fashion (CGF), a unique programme, was organised by the joint association of Maharshi Karve Stri Shikshak Sanstha’s School of Fashion Technology (SOFT), Pune and Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, Mumbai. He was speaking at the Opening Ceremony of this Conference. On this occasion, Senior Industrialist Rahul Mehta (President – Clothing Manufacturing Association of India), Chairman, Maharshi Karve Stri Shikshan Sanstha as well as CGF-President Mr. Vishwas Deval, Mr. Rajesh Balakrishnan (Chairman, CGF and CEO Pidilite, Mumbai), Sanstha’s Mr. Milind Lele, Mr. Ravindra Deshpande were present along with Dr. Manju Hundekar (Principal SOFT) & Dr. Ila Dedhi (Nirmala Niketan). This programme was held on 9th of February at Birla Auditorium, Churchgate, Mumbai. Renowned Institutions/ Representatives of Institutions, Fashion Designers from India, Germany, Italy, London, and nrealy 1000 Fashion Designing students across 11 Fashion Institutes in the Country had participated in this initiative.
In the afternoon session, reputed Fashion Designers and Industry Experts such as Designer / Industrialist Ben Carlton Ramsden from England , Dr. Sudha Dhingra (Chairperson, Dept of Textile Design, NIFT, Delhi) , Designer Shruti Sancheti, Designer Benjamin Itter from Germany, Ms. Krishna Mehta, Designer Durgesh Jadeja from Rajkot, Designer Hemang Agarwal, Mr. Rahul Mehta (President – Clothing Manufacturing Association of India), Designer Philippe Werhahn from Berlin, Fashion Journalist Meher Castelino, Mr. Rajesh Balakrishnan (Chairman, CGF and CEO Pidilite, Mumbai) and Designer Rahul Mishra (First Asian who won the Woolmark Award) participated in the Green Fashion International Conference, which was based on the key concept of “Benefits of Green Fashion in Environmental, Economical & Social Areas” and offered invaluable guidance to the students.
12 Different competitions based on the concept of Green Fashion, were conducted for students on 8th February at Nirmala Niketan, Churchgate, Mumbai. wherein around 600 girl students participated.
Various competitions such as ‘Bagovation’, ‘Block it Up’, ‘Paithani meets Innovation’. ‘Tie & Die’, ‘Wastessories’, ‘Fashion Quiz’ received spontaneous and tremendous response from the students. Wastessories’, a unique competition wherein one had to make Fashion Accessories from scrap, saw Mumbai’s SVT College emerging as the winner and SOFT & Nirmala Niketan as co-runner ups. Mumbai’s Sophia College bagged the first prize in Tie & Die Competition and Aurangabad’s Beau Monde College bagged the second. In the ‘Bagovation’ Competition, SOFT won the First Prize while the girl students of P V P Polytechnic, Mumbai won the Second.
Theses were presented by students and professors on key subjects such as ‘Fabric based Jewellery- A way to reuse fabric waste’, ‘Integrating Indian Craft, Design & CSR’, ‘Pre-consumer Textile Waste- Thrash to Treasure’
A Fashion Show was conducted in the evening of February 8th, based on the key concept, ‘Recycle, Reuse and Reduce’. Garment designs based on 10 different concepts by girl students of Fashion Designing were presented in this Fashion Show.
The girl students of M. S. University of Baroda received the Most Commercial Collection Award for their Fashion Collection designed on the conceptual base of Angular Rhapsody. Mumbai’s B D Somani College received the Most Sustainable Collection Award and girl students of Pune’s SOFT College received Best Design Collection Award. Special Jury Award was bagged by Aurangabad’s Beau Monde College.
SOURCE : Lokesh Shastri