Hello, everyone. I'm Hasta Chandra and I am the CEO and founder at upcycle Lax. I thank thete Network for inviting me and giving me an opportunity to talk about how technology can help make fashion sustainable.Uh which is why upcycle Lax is born, which is an inculcation of both technology and fashion, which is making it sustainable. So to start with uh today's presentation, I include uh introduction to fashion technology. Uh We'll be discussing about product design and technology.

What is the combination and how bombastic is the combat combination. Uh What is the reality and facts about fast fashion? A push for sustainability in fashion and technology. Um a very important aspect about environmental impact and a walkthrough of upcycle L. This is a very interesting question that everyone should w who is watching the presentation should definitely stay and watch the walkthrough and in case any questions are there for me, please let us know a little bit about myself. I am Harsha Chara. I have founded up Cycle Labs in 2021 and I've been uh I have a, I'm an engineer to fashion technology and been working in the uh fashion industry for more than eight years now. Uh I have worked with uh many homegrown labors as well as international labels too. Uh Before Upcycle Labs, I was owning an upcycle brand wherein I was constructing uh uh bags and accessories out of factory ways. Um And yes, Upcycle Labs was also selected with Un Women Industrial Destructor Program and do it uh do school Berlin. Uh We empower Asia program. So let's go start deep dive into the uh entire session and let's see how it goes about it. So fashion technology is growing at a faster pace than ever. And it has been at the forefront of innovation from invention of the sewing machine to the rise of a ee commerce. Um you know that it has been uh it is an industry that's been estimated to worth more than $3 trillion by the end of the decade.

And fashion technology is growing at a faster pace than ever. So the industry, fashion was the one industry which is, which was disorganized as well as the technology was not explored in the industry. So once the technology has been integrated right now, in the current times, the we are seeing a phenomenal change and overwhelming response from the consumers as well as from the industrial exports. So a look at the evolution of the fashion industry. So we have seen that they are a RSVR dressing rooms to temperature changing smart fabrics and beyond which is coming through on a regular basis. So we have also seen robots that sew and cut fabric A I algorithms that predict style trends. We are mirrored in dressing rooms and an array of other innovation which is just showing up every other day, automating, personalizing and speeding up the fashion space. So let's just dive into the trends, reshaping how our clothes and accessories are designed, manufactured, distributed and marketed.

So first one in the R A is product design. That's the most important part of any fashion industry or maybe in any industry. If at all you see in any vertical, that's because sustainability is something that you have to think it before even the product has been executed. Design is the core. So tech is automating the fashion designers. So A I is becoming the designer automatically with a focus on predicting that consumers uh will want what in the near future. So they are actually predicting what consumers will be uh will will want to wear the next. So recently, uh there was a study or like Google has already tested the waters of user driven A I fashion design with pro project news. Uh They have experimented with a partner uh called uh Zalando and they have actually trained a neural network to understand colors, textures, style preferences, uh and other aesthetic uh parameters to understand what the consumer want in their next wear. So these are the technology that big Mn CS and big companies are already getting involved with and we can see the future of fashion. It's gonna go to another level when it comes to A is and technology. Another aspect about technology is um how A I is influencing brands. So one brand, I think everybody must be knowing about it.

Tommy Hilfiger announced their partnership with IBM and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where the project is reimagining retail where, where they are actually calculating the real-time fashion, industry trends, um customer sentiment and around um uh resurfacing the themes in trending patterns, silhouettes, colors and styles, et cetera.

So, you know, uh here, the technology is taking up a high notch about how the consumer is gonna buy and they're also suggesting the trend trends about it. Here. On the other side, you can see how Sarah wants to uh want a dress for an upcoming party and how she inputs her style preferences to. This is an entire depiction about how A I is automating the fashion designer here. So he she inputs her style preferences and measurements and then it uh the A I synthesizes the preferences and the data which is already feed into the signals. Uh They take out the digital behavior, trending styles pass ecommerce learnings and then bring out the data about uh and the fitting groups. So now she can go and try her own dress option and select her favorites here. After selecting her fittings, she can directly um the styles goes to the 3D platform where it renders the dress tailors to uh Sara's measurement. And then a robot is the intervention. There is no manual intervention into it. The uh robot uh sue and cuts the assemble and assembles the dress and hence uh Sarah attends the party in her new dress. So this is what the technology is bringing into the fashion industry.

We need a lot of changes uh because um a lot of manual intervention is already there there in fashion industry. So technology is helping us a lot to take it up a notch. Um knowledge from A I system was then served uh to human designers who could make it informed decisions to its take to their next collection. So you know how A I is impacting us is is a drastic change. We now talk about how fast fashion is uh creating an instant gratification mentality in the industry. What we are missing out in the, when you see how technology is coming through, we are in a fast paced industry and um how technology is bringing up a lot of changes into the industry. We are missing out a lot of things into the environment in haze where we are constantly polluting it day by day. So this is an alarm today for all of us to get beware and start acting now. So let's talk about fast fashion. If we told you everybody know about it, that fast fashion refers to cheaply produced and priced garments that copy the latest trends and get produced. The consumers impulsive buying behavior to see now and by now leads to rapid designing and high production distribution.

Mass marketing, which means large quantity will give a lot of consumers to get more fashion as per the trend and at a really low price. So how this is actually affecting uh the environment these she made uh apparels cause environmental damage since rapid production runs to uh low durability of the clothes and uh and promotes excessive textile waste. So, did you ever thought how many times do you repeat one outfit in a year? You can definitely put your answers in the chat box. Um And we'll just have a I mean, how many how many days once twice or maybe thrice on an average only seven times uh a garment is worn before they are discarded, forcing an astonishing 1 50 billion new clothing items to be made annually by fast fashion brands. Isn't it overwhelming? I mean, we just wear one single garment for seven times only on an average. But then do you think that this is actually bad because um we are constructing a lot of economy here. People are, people are buying out a lot of stuff. Let me show you a few of the facts about fashion industry. So the volume of clothing thrown away each year has doubled in the last 20 years. It has reached from seven millions to 14 millions. And it takes 2700 L of water to make one cotton shirt.

So textile can take up uh 200 years to decompose in landfills. So now these textiles are after recycling and upcycling and everything. That's the percentage which is 20% are jumping to the landfills which take 200 years. So that is why fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the entire world. But um there are experts and there are other people who believe into slow fashion and there is hence there is a push for sustainability in fashion, sustainability marketed products drove more than half the growth in consumer packaged growth industry between 4015 and 2019. But despite making up the list by 16% of the market and uh there is a hike in sustainability market in 2021. So 2021 we are seeing a lot of people who are searching about sustainable products, organic products, upcycled products and so on and so forth. So taking up to the uh to uh to a CD P of uh ₹1 dollar 1 30 billion. So there are a few of the technological aspects as well that are making fashion a sustainable industry. So um people in sustainable industry are actually experimenting with alternative textiles, uh alternating textile means that we are creating ecofriendly textile alternatives made out of orange peel or maybe pineapple peas.

Um There is an example of Hong Kong was tata delicious is turning food waste into high quality clothing and other products through a process known as natural food time. So isn't that interesting? Like you know, you are making the textile circular, you're making something which is from leaves and rins and constructing in something ecofriendly and then you're making decomposing into the earth and there is no waste at all. Another aspect about the technological intervention is regenerating uh farming.

So uh soil restoration is very important for uh uh fiber to grow healthy. Cotton actually requires 713 gallons of water to produce. And that is approximately what a person drinks in 2.5 years. So majorly, people think that cotton is the most effective and most um um uh environmentally environment friendly fabric, but it isn't true. Organic cotton is one such, but then cotton needs a lot of other uh practices to actually make it more uh soil friendly. So here are practices such as composting, uh avoiding synthetic fertilizer and pesticide to make the soil intact and restore the soil health. Um Another one is making fashion circular or circular. So right now, the fashion industry is into linear economy like it means take, make waste and another one is circular, which is take, make reuse. So uh the technology is building in now those aspects as well. A more transparent supply chain is a must have in the Blockchain uh in the, in the fashion industry. That's because um the, the fashion industry, there are a lot of um there is no fair trade. Uh There uh the the materials which is used are the most polluting like polyester plastics, which is being used. Um We need more sustainable materials and to um do uh labor uh fair labor conditions, we need to communicate uh that into transparency.

So Blockchain technology has enabled a traceable supply chain by recording each step on a decent and distributed ledger. So one such uh social network platform is source map uh which is allowing farmers, textile mills and suing uh factories to communicate with brands uh using their products and services.

So we are reducing the consumption uh by also we are reducing the consumption by turning freelove into relove clothing vendor and make a new uh mend and make new. This is an environmental impact that we have focuses on. Uh this is this is the pollution that is being catered by the fashion industry that is 10% is air being polluted carbon emissions. Water is being that, that includes microfibre um uh plastic content into the ocean that is being done land by landfills. Uh clothing is been done after uh recycling and insulation. So uh I like a lot. Uh we are actually calculating uh these uh environmental impact on our website to know your I uh to know your impact from the consumer's perspective. So we perform a fact based evaluation to calculate the true cost of the purchase by measuring the environmental footprint of each product. So we have featured them all together into total impact index featured by shopping and brand sustainability practices. So you can see on the mobile version, how we are actually showcasing consumers about uh the features which is minimal waste of cycle, ethically made organic fabrics, handcrafted, circular and then the impact of each, how you have prevented. So, Mia we are making, making the consumers conscious about their buying behavior and they'll know about what they exactly buy. So we are the only platform which is authentic for sustainable products. So there is no greenwashing which is happening.

We deep dive into the supply chain of each brand to make uh this happen, how we do it. I'll showcase you my uh video uh about how exactly

did you know the fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world. Conscious and sensible shopping choices is the need of the hour. But other brands you are interested in really sustainable. We bring to you one top platform of authentic sustainable homegrown brands to show you the sustainability strength upcycle lucks dive deep into the entire supply chain and evaluate the life cycle footprint of each product production materials to its management and recyclable.

At upsy looks, we work with brands that recognize sustainable practices, use organic fabrics and seek transparency in their supply chain. We prefer fact based evaluation and calculate the true cost of fashion and the sustainability strength of by measuring your environmental footprint. And comparing it to traditional industrial practices.

We show you the emissions of carbon dioxide, prevented volume of water, conserved weight of chemicals avoided and the units of electricity save every product you purchase from our store. We demonstrate how you purchase each product positively impact the environment. Join us to have an experience like never before and be a part of the solution, not

the pollution. The Thank you so much for watching the video. Now here comes back with the walk through. People now have more access to information instantly allowing them to have to be savior and more informed than even before. As I always say that there is no, how have you been? I've been doing very good, Ashita. Thank you so much guys. Any questions, if at all you have, we can have a discussion over it. I just stopped shaving. Um I have one wall of film showing how devastating the actual industry is for people. I mean, trying to be sustainable. I'm sure never enough. You can definitely come down to a cycle and l and see how we can are making sustainable clothes as well as how, how to actually inculcate sustainable living into your daily lives. Thank you, Hana. Uh guys, the brand name is Upcycle lux.com. Uh You can check out here cycle lux.com. It's a global platform, you can definitely check that out and you can catch me on linkedin as well by Harshita Chandra. Here is my link is organic cotton sustainable. When we look at the process of watching et cetera, what is the best choice when choosing textile? What would you suggest? Yes, organic cotton is a sustainable cotton. But you have to, there are certifications that brand shows those are got certifications.

Uh You should always ask a brand before uh buying any product. So this is, we are actually authenticating each brand asking them about this and it, and take on board them onto our platform. So you can always ask about um what certification are they it across and in case there is no certification, they'll be telling you about the transparency. They are actually enhancing in their gene. That means uh doing f they are focusing on UN SDGS et cetera. Thank you, Aina.

I like that. The application gives people education feedback to more make decision. Thank you so much. Environmental is the force in India uh in, in a marketplace. And uh they have shown uh we try to show em environmental impact to the consumers to for a better understanding. Basically.

Thank you a lot. Any other questions? I am open for all the questions for you. So I take uh sustainability sessions in case anybody wants to uh come in and have uh awareness about sustainability. Please do uh message me, I'm always up for spreading the awareness about sustainability.

That's one motive I am looking forward to and uh to make a global norm. Where does the data come from? What type of sources? So, Mary, the that we are actually bringing out is from the brands actually. Can we are bring out data um uh in from a based evaluation. Uh There is a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire uh that we send it across to the brands and that uh we um uh actually churn it and emphasize it and analyze it uh uh properly and then we put it the impact on our platform. Thank you Z I'm I'm really thankful that everybody liked the session and I'm welcoming more uh questions if anybody has definitely never. I think that everyone should be sustainable in current times because we are left for approximately a decade to save the planet Earth. Um And if our consumption doesn't get less enough, we'll definitely not be able to uh change the changes, but that's gonna happen on the planet Earth after a few years. I thought perhaps there might have been garment or environmental sources. Of course. Yes. So there is an analysis Marie uh that we are actually. So uh I'll, I'll tell you in detail about it that we are uh comparing the conventional practices with the current practices.

So the brands that are making the products and those are on boarded on upcycle last, these are, those are either organic, those are made of peanut text that is pineapple, orange apple hemp tensor. One is this segment. Another one is upcycle. These are either being factory uh upcycled by factory waste or accessories that is being put up handcrafted natural diet. We are how much the brands have focused on lessening up chemicals in their supply chain. So we are putting all the information on to one and bringing out environmental impact of each product when you'll buy it. Definitely Michelle, I would love to give a session on sustainability because that's one which I am so passionate about and uh would love to share my knowledge to you all and would love to learn something or the other from you all. What do you think about? Hm, taking clothes back? It's, it's a great initiative. Uh hm has come into consideration by a Norwegian lately that they were, their supply chain is not ethical, but they are making a lot of efforts in bringing the entire supply chain to be um sustainable. So there is one such initiative that they are actually taking and mending those clothes back and then recycling it.

Thank you so much Navina and one more thing guys, uh whenever you go next to do any kind of shopping or maybe maybe online shopping, understand that a brand can always do greenwashing. Greenwashing means um that when a brand is actually talking about their green, they are green but they're actually not green. They are doing a lot of green marketing. But then at the back end, they thick are always like a fast fashion brand. So you have to make sure that they are actually transparent about their supply chain. They are talking about their workers, they are talking about fair trade certification. What kind of materials they have been using raw materials? They have been using everything else. So please be beware of greenwashing that our that is our initiative and mission at upcycle lab that we have to eliminate greenwashing from the fashion industry. And um thank you Mary. Yes. So uh we have to eliminate greenwashing from the fashion industry and that's the mission of upcycle luck that we have to cater to approximately 1,000,001 billion consumers and make them choose green choice, greener choices by 2025. Thank you so much guys. Thank you so much. I have, I, I'm overwhelmed with the response and I'm looking forward to uh more such conversation with you.

Please get connected with me at linkedin so that we can, we, I I can always explore more session and we can have a uh one on one discussion over sustainability and much more information what I have in my market. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Have a nice day.