Author(s): Shruti Kushwaha, Charu Swami

Abstract:
Over the past two decades, the demand for production is increasing very rapidly in all aspects of the required living commodities. In order to meet all the required demands, over production and utilization of all resources is not enough. Recently, awareness of environmental issues and creative ideas of recycling wasted materials have attracted attention. In the midst of the widespread movement of 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), the concept of upcycling is rapidly gaining importance worldwide. Upcycling is one such method which not only deducts the amount of waste that gets tossed but it also stops the demand for more production of items that will potentially meet the same landfill fate. In the textiles and apparel sector, waste generated from the industries has become a significant problem in terms of growing waste management costs and its image. rnLeather industry has been characterized as one of the highly polluting industries and also generates large amount of leather wastes that can have adverse impact on the environment. Various useful materials can be recreated from these wastes by innovative designing and processing. Thus, in the following research, 30 designs of high value-added upcycled Fashion and Home Accessories were developed from leather scrap waste generated from the manufacturing and sewing process of leather products. The designs resulting from the following study were evaluated for their acceptability amongst the consumers.