Lakmē Fashion Week 2025: How Lakmē Fashion Week redefined sustainable fashion this season

Lakmē Fashion Week 2025 redefined eco-luxury with upcycled fabrics, biodegradable textiles, and circular fashion by India’s boldest new designers. (Image: Lakmē Fashion Week X FDCI)

This season, Lakmē Fashion Week in partnership with FDCI took sustainability beyond the buzzword and turned it into a striking visual story. The runway shimmered not just with style, but with conscience and the runway was brimming with innovation, repurposing, and craft-driven creativity. Upcoming designers showcased how fashion can be both beautiful and kind to the planet, reimagining waste, reviving traditional techniques, and crafting a new narrative for conscious luxury.

From biodegradable fabrics to upcycled trims, these planet-friendly collections proved that eco-innovation is the new couture.

TIL by Ankur Verma

Designer Ankur Verma of the TIL label delivered one of the most refreshing showcases this season with his collection, “Breathe.” Crafted from waste and upcycled materials, his pieces blended high fashion with mindful design. Verma used patchwork and kantha stitching on handspun cotton, cotton silk, and organza — fabrics known for their soft, airy feel. The result was a tactile, visually layered collection that played with textures and translucence. Overlays, jackets, and versatile separates captured the spirit of effortless sustainability. Each garment came with reused trims and recycled tags, underlining Verma’s thoughtful approach.

Also Read: Sustainable style guide: Why bamboo and hemp should be your next wardrobe staples

CRCLE by Varshne B

If there was one name that turned heads for innovation and intent, it was Varshne B, the young designer from NIFT Chennai whose label CRCLE presented the collection “Symbiosis.”  Using 100% biodegradable Wegawool from Calotropis plant fibres, banana leather, Korai grass bags, and handwoven khadi denim in kala cotton, she crafted a collection that felt earthy, contemporary, and gender-neutral. The neutral tones and clean silhouettes made her designs universally appealing. Varshne’s accessories made from stainless steel scrap and post-consumer fabric  perfectly embodied her “nothing wasted” ideology. Her efforts earned her the R|Elan™ Circular Design Challenge (CDC) award, marking her as one of the most promising new voices in India’s circular fashion landscape.

Golden Feathers

Pushing the boundaries of sustainability, designer duo Radhesh Agrahari and Muskan Sainik of Golden Feathers stunned audiences with their collection “Kora,” created from an unexpected source — upcycled butchery chicken waste (BCW). Through a 27-step, chemical-free sanitisation process, they converted waste into a soft, natural wool-like fibre. The result was an elegant line of stoles, shawls, jackets, mufflers, and handmade papers that carried both style and purpose. With zero waste and no harmful chemicals, their process proved that innovation in fashion can come from the most unconventional places.

Also Read: Kidswear trends: Sustainable and gender-neutral fashion for children

Pearl Academy x Jeetinder Sandhu: The Jute & Khadi Reinvention

Proving that traditional materials can thrive in modern design, students from Pearl Academy redefined the possibilities of jute and khadi. Once seen as coarse, utilitarian textiles, these fabrics were transformed into luxurious, soft materials that felt almost wool-like to the touch. Their innovation reduced material use and added commercial value for jute-producing regions. But the most unexpected highlight was their collaboration with designer Jeetinder Sandhu — the creation of India’s first khadi sneakers.