India’s leading fashion education institute, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have recently collaborated to provide all students at the Institute with general elective course on ‘Design Innovation for Sustainable Fashion’.
Over 20 batches of this elective course are currently being run on 17 NIFT campuses nationwide.
In a webinar, Shantmanu, DG, NIFT said “Looking at the overwhelming response, we may make ‘Design Innovation for Sustainable Fashion’ a mandatory course for students or even a certificate or diploma course in the future because sustainable fashion and sustainable development is the need of the hour.”
Atul Bagai, Head, UNEP India’s country office, told that UNEP India is working on several initiatives on sustainability in the textile sector. It is helping the Ministry of Textiles (MoT) develop a roadmap for a sustainable textile hub in Surat to support the sustainability and circulation of this sector. UNEP is also working with Lakme Fashion Week in the Circular Design Challenge.
It is worth highlighting here that sustainability across the textile and apparel industry is gaining importance. Upendra Prasad, Textiles Secretary Singh also said sustainability has to be practised in the entire value chain of textiles, not only in the production but also in the consumption of textiles.
Bharat Tex Special Report 2026 
