Author(s): Dr. Sudha Babel and Mamta Mehta

Abstract:
Food, clothing and shelter to live is considered as essential necessities for human beings. Clothes help to make the most of our good features, express our personality, and at the same time conform our way of life or protect our body. Production of textiles is an expensive process. Seasonal changes in fashion means that clothes become outdated quickly, encouraging replacement and disposal of clothes. The clothing is discarded for various reasons. Many researches stated that the amount of household fabric waste is increasing every year due to fast fashion. Post-consumer textile waste (PCTW) is a largely unexplored product with strong reuse and recycling prospective. It is an efficient resource to explore and develop novel skills. It has huge prospective to generate economic empowerment and has the power to convert trash to treasure. The roots of the current research are rooted in the traditions of Indian culture and religion. Thus it is an foreseeable tool to revive the past practices of most advantageous utilization, reutilization and recycling of post-consumer textile waste. Utilizing waste by reducing, reusing and recycling are the most powerful way by which individuals, households, institutions and businesses can protect their communities and the environment. Women are the one who designs and sews clothing material into value added articles or finished product. Through tailoring skill to make creative, stylish and contemporary designs as per the market demands by using post consumer textile waste. Hundred respondents engaged in stitching of women wears and ready to give responses for the present study were selected purposively from Udaipur city to collect information type of articles and designing skill used for utilization of post consumer textile waste i.e. types of textile waste available, type of articles develop and types of skill used for decoration of articles. The information was collected using self-structured interview schedule and by observations. The maximum amount of textile waste available with women was in the form small fabric pieces followed by large fabric pieces. Women used large fabric pieces for making clothing articles, furnishing & utility articles. Post consumer textile waste are low cost raw materials and many Indian craft enterprises are also adapting traditional skills to create eco products, by reclaiming waste, recycling it and extending the life of a material, and object. It can be used by women entrepreneurs to start a small scale business.