This article is authored by Chandrani Chakraborty, a Legal Research Scholar at Motherhood University, Roorkee, Uttarakhand.
Abstract
Fashion and textiles are industries of immense cultural and economic importance; they rank among the very largest contemporary threats to the environment. The water footprint of this industry is notably significant, from enormous water usage and the toxic effluent discharge to microplastic pollution and waste created by fast fashion. In this paper, we try to put under scrutiny the environmental responsibility of India’s fashion and textile industries. An attempt has also been made to find out whether or not laws like the Environment (Protection) Act or Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act have served their purpose in controlling these industrial textile units; the paper tries to point out how weak enforcement is or violation that unorganized sectors show.
The report further examines previously neglected practices of sustainability in such traditional Indian crafts as weaving and craftsmanship. It argues that these environmentally friendly systems need greater institutional and legal backing to survive in addition, this paper criticizes the worldwide tendency of green-washing luxury brands and outlines international legal frameworks like UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, OECD Recommendations and the European Union’s circular economy legislation. The paper ends by suggesting complete legal reform, implementing enforceable eco-labelling guidelines and extended producer responsibility–with targeted incentives for innovative sustainable crafts clusters.
It advocates for a regulatory framework that integrates environmental integrity with economic justice, ensuring that the future of fashion is not only stylish but also sustainable.
Keywords: Environmental law, sustainable fashion, handloom, textile pollution, fast fashion, India, NGT, GI, eco-fashion, legal accountability.
Introduction
Fashion is more than fabric. It is a reflection of identity, culture, and dreams. But, beneath the embrace of vibrant prints, flowing silks, and indigenous weaves lurks a gross environmental issue. The fashion and textile industry is among the most resource-intensive global industries, associated with pollution and textile waste and contributing significantly to the world’s water quality and carbon emissions. While the world is gazing at artisanal handlooms and seasonal collections, very few consider the contextualize the global ecological burden it carries.
As the dialogue around climate change and sustainability is becoming more ubiquitous and urgent, both the environmental accountability of fast fashion corporations and traditional craft sectors will shift from obscurity to scrutiny. This article aims to examine how legal systems, particularly environmental legislation, can consider the environmental costs of fashion. It will discuss the issue at the global level, and in India; and highlight the friction between the multi-national industry of mass production and the local industry of handloom crafts, whilst providing commentary on the role of law in framing a sustainable future.
The Environmental Toll of Fashion
Every article of clothing we wear starts a journey the moment we extract resources to create it and ultimately dispose of it which deeply affects the environment and ecosystems. Cultivating cotton requires a vast amount of water, is typically riddled with toxic pesticides, and polyester, a synthetic fiber is extracted from petroleum and releases microplastics into the ocean. Processing requires, finishing and dyeing which is done chemically. These processes are causing the rivers and soil to be filled with harmful unprocessed chemicals.
Many of India’s rivers near textile hubs such as Ludhiana, Kanpur and Tirupur are unendingly polluted because dyeing units release wastewater without any processing. Processing fabrics contains carcinogenic dyes, bleaching agents and heavy metals. These not only pose a threat to the environment and natural resources, but also endanger the health of the laborers and denizens of the community. Furthermore, everything needs to be fast and keeps pushing for constant design alterations which leads to overproduction of clothes, and rampant largescale textile waste that gets dumped in landfills.
Fashion and the Law: India’s Legal Framework
India has an extensive legal infrastructure related to the environment which in principle can control pollution from industries. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 functions as a framework law within which the government can set environmental policies and takes action against offenders. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 are more concerned with the discharge of wastewater and the control of air emissions.
Textile industries as others are obliged to obtain environmental clearances as well as to operate effluent treatment plants. Concentration of small and medium sized units have lax adherence to regulations. A number of dyeing and printing clusters operate outside the formal economy and therefore unregulated. Even when legal action is attempted, there tends to be a complete disregard for execution due to a myriad of issues such as bribery, stagnation, or no funds.
Indian courts have dealt with textile pollution quite aggressively in some landmark cases. The Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India case is one example as the Supreme Court applied the ‘Polluter Pays Principle’ by shutting down tanneries that were polluting Palar River in Tamil Nadu. The same outrage is growing towards textile hubs releasing effluents without treatment into rivers endangering environment and public health.
Environmental Accountabilities: Wins and Losses in the Fashion World
As the days go by, the fashion industry and its textiles counterpart continue to be scrutinized for their alleged environmental favours. The enforcement has begun, with mixed results, some positive and some negative.
The action of the Federal Trade Commission to sue Walmart for misleading consumers: calling rayon products, environmentally friendly “bamboo fabrics” was considered a huge success on the legal front of the United States. This was seen in the Federal Trade Commission v. Walmart Inc. (2022). Walmart had to stop the misleading advertising and pay a $3 million fine. This lawsuit was similar to the investigation of Everlane’s equivalently misleading labeling of eco-friendly in the National Advertising Division (NAD) in 2022. Everlane was never fined, although NAD did rule that Everlane was defensible on its “ReNew” line, but recommended some better labeling in terms of being clearer. These wins show that audacious green claims are possible to be sustainable when being challenged.
Conversely, it has rather been a disadvantage to Europe. In the Netherlands, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) initiated inquiries into H&M and Decathlon’s claims in 2023, which involved the former’s ambiguous environmental marketing. Rather than seek fines, ACM settled for their promises to improve their adverts and a donation of €400,000 and €500,000, respectively. There are also a number of larger inquiries, still open, under the Digital Services Act and a potential Green Claims Directive. The European Commission began inquiries into SHEIN and Temu in the years 2024-2025. While there has not yet been any enforcement action from these approaches, these inquiries are still related to convoluted supply chains and misleading green marketing. Italy’s Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) launched similar actions against Dior, Armani, and Loro Piana in 2024. Dior offered compliance processes under the settlement, but there was no fine. In mid-2025 investigations into Armani and Loro Piana remain open, demonstrating the slowness of regulatory enforcement in the luxury fashion space.
These examples exemplify the changing, although still fragmented, landscape of the legal obligation of the fashion industry towards environmental responsibility. Certainly some governments have done enough to penalize false sustainability claims or follow negotiated settlements rather than voluntary compliance! The inconsistency highlights the need for cohesive and enforceable green advertising laws regulating the global fashion industry.
The Role of the National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), formed under the NGT Act, 2010, has become an important venue for environmental litigation. In multiple instances, it has ordered pollution control boards to move against errant textile units. But it also runs up against enforcement challenges, particularly when orders affect livelihoods or major revenue-producing industries.
The Tribunal has also stressed the need for CETPs in textile clusters. Many of these plants are either non-functional or inadequate to handle the quantum of waste generated. In the absence of stringent monitoring & accountability, such initiatives will not result in sustainable environmental improvement.
Luxury Fashion, Greenwashing, and Global Legal Trends
Sustainability is luxury? Words like these are becoming familiar in the fashion world. Now such campaigns, focusing on organic cotton, recycled fibres, or eco-aware methods are a dime a dozen. But a lot of this is greenwashing — marketing that overstates environmental claims in a bid to attract customers.
And lots of international brands still hire factories in countries with fewer environmental protections, reaping the benefits of cheap labor and less legal scrutiny. EU on the way to mandatory sustainability disclosure and EPR laws, enforcement by global supply chains is also a challenge.
There are also international guidelines, like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines, which encourage companies not to degrade the environment. But in the absence of binding commitments, companies can skirt real accountability.
Handloom and Craft Sectors: Sustainable Yet Ignored
India’s handloom industry serves as an example of sustainable practices. Artisans traditionally source cotton, silk, and wool fibers along with plant-based dyes, employing low-energy methods for production. Weaving, spinning, and dyeing in small batches minimizes ecological impact.
Even with these environmental benefits, these industries receive little legal recognition or aid. Most craftsmen do not have access to eco-schemes, advertising, or carbon credit opportunities. While numerous handloom products feature Geographical Indications, enforcement is lax, and dilution through imitation by machine-made products erodes cultural and ecological value.
If India takes pride in its sustainable crafts, it needs to counterbalance this with stronger legal protection, infrastructure development, and market entry opportunities. Handing these communities real status by concerning them as bearers of ecological wisdom would enable socially just environmental outcomes.
What Needs to Change: Legal Reforms for a Sustainable Fashion Future
The rapid proliferation of legislation concerning fashion design has taken a backseat to environmental preservation which further amplifies the need for multiple levels of reform.
To start with, enforcing eco-labels with accurate environmental impact statements on products’ packaging would serve as the baseline indicator. It is the right of consumers to differentiate between garments crafted sustainably or those that come with the price of a polluted river.
Brand allegiance to extended producer responsibility policies should include the ecology associated with the product poorly managed post-sale. Such obligations would require brands to finance recycling initiatives and manage textile waste efficiently.
In her essay, Smith argues that extending financial aids to handloom artisans adopting eco-friendly production methods would empower them generously. Branding these artisans as modern climate champions would allow traditional crafts to be reimagined as contemporary sustainable businesses.
There is an acute need to position judicial and administrative agencies favorably to enable the take-off of proactive actions. Environmental Courts must also be active in terms of encouraging long-term pollution cleanup and community restoration following restoration in addition to sanctioning eco offenders.
As emphasized in the essay, raising awareness among consumers needs to go hand in hand with producer responsibility. Companies in the fashion industry should provide yearly sustainability reporting as well as make environmental audits a mandatory requirement to be integrated in corporate governance.
Conclusion
Fashion is not simply about style anymore. It is environmental action, economic power, and ethical decision-making site. As the world now increasingly perceives the threats posed by climate change and ecological degradation, calls for environmental accountability in fashion are not optional but necessary.
India, a country with a deep fabric legacy and an emerging fashion economy, has to be at the front of this change. Stronger green rules plus a push for old eco-friendly skills and making dirty industrial polluters pay can create a nice and fair fashion future.
Real style is not just in what we put on but in how responsibly it was made. It’s time to stitch sustainability into every thread—and let the law guide the needle.
REFERENCES
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation – Fashion’s Circular Economy Report
A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Futurehttps://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy - Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) – Textile Pollution in India (Tirupur case study)
https://www.cseindia.org/down-to-earth-textile-pollution-in-tirupur-10829 - OECD Due Diligence Guidance for the Garment and Footwear Sector
https://www.oecd.org/industry/inv/mne/responsible-supply-chains-textile-garment-sector.htm - United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)
https://www.ohchr.org/en/business/un-guiding-principles-business-and-human-rights - European Commission – EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles (2022)
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/textiles-strategy_en - India’s Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (Bare Act – Legislative Department, GoI)
https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1986-29.pdf - Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1974-06.pdf - Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1981-14.pdf - Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v Union of India – Full Judgment (Indian Kanoon)
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1934109/ - National Green Tribunal (Official Portal)
https://greentribunal.gov.in/ - Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/gi-act-1999.pdf - Sustainable Apparel Coalition – Higg Index (Measuring sustainability impact)
https://apparelcoalition.org/the-higg-index/ - European Environment Agency – Design & Circular Economy in Textiles
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/textiles-and-the-environment-the - India’s National Handloom Development Programme (Ministry of Textiles)
https://handlooms.nic.in/ - World Bank Report – How Much Do Our Clothes Cost the Environment?
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/09/23/costo-moda-medio-ambiente - Federal Trade Commission v. Walmart Inc., 2022, see FTC Press Release, https://www.ftc.gov
- Loeb & Loeb LLP, Fashion Industry Sustainability Claims Are Focus of Regulation, February 2022, https://www.loeb.com/en/insights/publications/2022/02/fashion-industry-sustainability-claims
- Goodwin Procter LLP, Fashion Faux Pas: Misleading Sustainability Claims Under Fire in the EU, July 2025, https://www.goodwinlaw.com/en/insights/publications/2025/07/alerts-practices-antc-fashion-faux-pas
- European Commission Press Corner, Commission investigates online platforms for deceptive sustainability claims, March 2025, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner
- Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM), Investigazioni sui claims ambientali di Dior, Armani, Loro Piana, July 2024–2025, https://www.agcm.it
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