KANDLA–In Western India there is a small port town called Kandla in which millions of pounds of recycled clothing from "the West" are sorted through. Each week countless shipping containers filled with pounds and pounds of clothing gets dropped off and sorted at the hands of thousands of women from Kandla and surrounding areas. Less than half of the pieces of clothing that are sorted through are viable to be resold. The rest are made into rags. What cannot be made into rags will eventually be ground down into fibers to be made into inexpensive yarn.
Our Director of Product Development Nicole Bressler traveled to Kandla to visit the factory in person and told us how her experience went. “My time at the facilities in Kandla left me in awe of the sheer volume of disposed clothing, some of which were completely unused. You have to visit a place like that to really see the jarring effects of textile waste that are typically concealed from consumers,” she shared.
At Angora, we are constantly scouring the globe....
At Angora, we are constantly scouring the globe for sustainable resources, makers, and partners with whom we can work to try to do our part in ameliorating the major issue around waste in the fashion industry. As advisors, consultants, and also product developers, we are acutely aware of where our responsibility lies in this matter: being change-makers.
“The facilities in Kandla left me in awe of the sheer volume of disposed clothing, some of which were completely unused. You have to visit a place like that to really see the jarring effects of textile waste that are typically concealed from consumers.”
This is one of the major hidden and often unspoken dark-side of the fashion industry. But, for us it is important to approach these issues with positively and forward-looking lens. Especially for our Fortune 500 and corporate clients are on the lookout for how they can play a part in helping reverse some of the damages that the industry creates, and develop viable, scalable, commercial programs that can actually fit into their existing infrastructure and essentially, be as big as they are.
Because “this factory has scaled the most sustainable upcycling processes in the industry by spearheading change in viable ways for new and established brands” says Bressler. Therefore, it was especially interesting for Angora, and why we wanted to investigate first hand, with boots on the ground. “By creating an interesting product that is differentiated from the standard post consumer apparel,” this factory proved to be worth the visit.
It left a lasting impression on Bressler: “I was overwhelmed by the amount of goods that end up in these rag houses but also excited about the projects Angora will put forward with our collaboration. Im hopeful that in educating brands further about these resources we can launch far more zero waste product that is relevant in the market and accessible to the consumer.”
