The fashion industry has a problem with excess. It creates too much only for it to be wasted – for example, of about 100 billion garments created globally every year, about 92 million tonnes end up in landfills.

And so, within our production, we knew that we needed to create an internal system that would help us reduce as much as possible, which is where our zero waste fashion accessories come in!

We hope this shows you how important it is to support upcycled fashion brands, but before we tell you more about that, let’s talk about the facts…

The Textile Waste Issue

Textile waste doesn’t occur just due to one reason, and there are 3 we want to mainly point out:

1.The growing popularity of fast fashion

Fast fashion is clothing made quickly, at ultra low costs, and at a mass scale to meet high demand. It’s a system that favours cheap fabrics, heavy machinery, and an everchanging fashion cycle.

Most of us will be familiar with brands such as H&M, Zara, and Shein – in fact, the latter established themselves as a primary online fashion marketplaces in 2023 within the US with 40% of American consumers having shopped from them.

But fast fashion comes at a cost, not only have all these brands faced accusations of unethical practices, their quality also comes into question. Much of the time, their garments are not made to last but to withstand the few weeks or months the piece is in trend before it eventually will be thrown away.

2.Modern consumer behaviours

With fashion trends coming in and out of the mainstream constantly, the global mentality towards fashion has, for a while, been just as mercurial, as the modern consumer buys into the latest sought after garment only for it to become ‘out-of-style’ by next week – the outcome: just another piece of clothing is thrown away, in fact, it was found that consumers wear their garments an average of 7 to 10 times before it’s discarded.

There is some hope though as the awareness of fashion’s environmental impact increases with each year with global consumers demanding more transparency and sustainable women’s fashion.

Moreover and interestingly, in McKinsey & Company’s 2024 report, they predicted 2025 to be a tumultuous year for fashion buyers.

“Consumers, affected by the recent period of high inflation, are increasingly price sensitive. There is also the surprising rise of dupes, the acceleration of climate change, and the continued reshuffling of global trade.”

All in all, outlining a more cautious global consumer base who may not be as willing to spend this year and being more conscious of what they buy – fast fashion’s lower and lower pricing however, will still prove to be very tempting to many.

3.Inefficient manufacturing processes

In a report provided by the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, production waste, also known as pre-consumer waste, has a high likelihood to be diverted from simply being thrown into landfills or incinerated, but suffers from inefficient systems:

“The fashion industry produces significant waste due, in part, to its complexity and the disconnection between players along the value chain. Retailers, brands, garment manufacturers, textile mills, and accessory suppliers, as well as various departments within these entities, often operate independently, resulting in significant inefficiencies in the supply chain.”

To further put this issue in context, India contributes about 8.5% of global textile waste with over 40% of that being pre-consumer waste.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Green Potential

In all of this, there’s great potential for sustainable women’s fashion to make a difference and circular systems to reduce these numbers – and we can take a look at India as an example.

The Textile and Apparel industry is one of India’s most important contributors to the economy, it employs over 45 million employees, although this number could be much larger due to informal structures within the industry, it also constitutes “2% of total GDP, 12% of total exports, 7% of industry output in value terms”. This all helps contextualise that it would be incredibly beneficial for the economy and for our environment to find ways to recoup waste.

India is also one of the global leaders in mechanical recycling – the problem? “the value chain remains largely unorganised with limited visibility, leading to leakage of waste at multiple levels…minimal external support for technological advancement and process standardisation”. All to say, there’s just not enough effort made, which can be said for fashion systems all around the world.

Which leads us to how we want to contribute to the change…

Sources: 1

Crafting Zero Waste

It’s incredibly apparent that sustainable women’s fashion and upcycled fashion brands can take a stand and provide better, which finally brings us to our zero waste fashion accessories.

Every season, it’s inevitable we’re left with fabric scraps created from pattern offcuts as well as excess stock at the end of a season.

At Sui, we make a conscious effort to save these fabrics for future use, whether it's for garments or, what usually occurs, for upcycled accessories.

So, what is upcycling? The general definition is that waste materials are used to create a new product of higher value.

By doing so, we are able to reduce our own textile waste, as well as have more control over what happens within the life of our fabrics by extending it!

This is an initiative we’ve been implementing since our very start in 2018, where we first crafted earrings, hair scrunchies and more from our fabrics, all naturally following the themes of the latest season we would have dropped, making the pieces perfect pairings and sustainable accessories to our garments – they also make great eco conscious gifts for those just starting their slow fashion journey.

Our latest launch of upcycled accessories is crafted out of our Meet Me By The Sea ocean-inspired fabrics – from hand block printed Kala cotton to linen, we utilised our range of conscious fabrics to bring you some familiar favourites, such as our make-up pouches and utility pouches, as well as some fresh designs, such as our keyring charms and choker necklace.

Support Better Made

We hope this has shown you how positively impactful sustainable accessories can be, and remember that these pieces are not just great to pair with our own everyday outfits, giving them to friends or family as eco conscious gifts can further show others how fashion can be beautiful, functional, and eco friendly.