Dubbed the Met Gala for Nature, the first-ever NAT Gala at Climate Week NYC last week made one thing clear: glamor is finding a new purpose.
Icons such as Billie Eilish, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford and Stella McCartney have used the spotlight to call out the $711 billion funding gap for conservation initiatives, proving that style can be a force in the fight against climate change. Just days before, New York Fashion Week had focused on a value-driven narrative with sustainability at its core, while London Fashion Week had committed to adopting the Copenhagen Sustainability Standards by 2026.
What is becoming clear is that sustainability is no longer a side topic, it has taken center stage.
However, while the world’s galas and fashion weeks are adapting, fashion schools are slower to react. And if we’re serious about roundness, the real work begins not on the runway, but in the classroom.
From Linear to Circular: Why India Matters
Fashion still operates on a wasteful cycle: take, make, dispose. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, less than 1% of textiles are recycled into new clothing. In other words, almost every piece of clothing ends up in the trash.
The alternative? A circular model where clothing is designed to last, repair, reuse and ultimately recycle. The reality is that nearly 80% of clothing’s environmental impact is captured at the design stage. Every decision you make about fabric, dye, cut, and lifespan determines a path to waste or sustainability.
For India, one of the world’s leading textile producers, this is both a challenge and a revelation. According to some estimates, the country generates 7.8 million tons of textile waste every year, which is almost 8.5% of the world’s volume. Most of it comes not from consumers, but from the flow: reducing waste, unsold inventory and imports without a second life.
Rethinking the classroom
This figure seems even more dramatic when you think about what India’s textile history has been like. For centuries, Indian fashion has been based on sustainable practices. The hand weaving used local fibers and vegetable dyes, which used little energy and created almost no waste. Garments like the sari epitomized longevity and versatility, as a single length of fabric was worn in countless ways, repaired when needed, and often passed down from generation to generation. In Bengal, kanta embroidery turned worn fabric into quilts of astonishing beauty, proving that reuse can be creative as well as practical.
In other words, India has long shown the world what circular fashion looks like. The tragedy is that modern industrial systems have replaced this spirit with cheap, one-off mass production. Now is an opportunity to reclaim these principles and bring them into today’s classrooms.
If the design systems remain the same, the mountains of waste will only grow. But if Indian fashion schools put cyclicality at their core, the ripple effect could transform global supply chains.
Curriculum models that treat sustainability as an elective are outdated. Life cycle thinking should be as fundamental as sketching or drapery. Students should leave school as fluent in environmental accounting as they are in aesthetics.
Classrooms should function as laboratories and spaces where students experiment with biodegradable fabrics, prototype zero-waste designs, and design clothes that can be taken apart and remade. In such conditions, sustainability moves from an abstract principle to a daily practice.
But education does not happen in isolation. Brands and manufacturers need to come together — to open up their supply chains, fund projects, or simply share what real-world constraints look like. At the same time, universities should publish research on scalable innovations such as fiber recycling, low-impact dyeing or blends with lasting value. Together, classrooms can become incubators for industry transformation.
Closing the loop
The result is a new kind of graduate: part designer, part changemaker. They see ethics and aesthetics as inseparable, and know that competitiveness determines responsibility. In a country like India, where textiles drive the economy but also generate waste, this recruitment can have a global impact.
NAT Gala 2025 showed how glamor can mobilize climate action. But glamor alone will not close the circle of fashion. Education can.
If fashion weeks can hard-wire sustainability into their schedule, and industry councils can raise the bar, then classrooms must do the same. The future of sustainable fashion will be shaped in studios and lecture halls, where every sketch is also a decision about the planet.
(The author is Dean of Interiors and Fashion, Pearl Academy. Antonio Maurizio Grioli is an Italian designer whose attention to detail and innovative concepts have illuminated his academic path)
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Published – 07 Nov 2025, 20:26 IST
