According to a 2018 Forbes report, the fashion industry generates 92 million tons or 4 per cent of the world’s waste each year, which mostly comes from offcuts from the production process.

Homegrown fashion designer Gin Lee believes that fashion can be a more sustainable industry. In October 2020, she launched Gin Lee Make, a collection which she describes as “an antithesis against the mass, ready-made model of fast fashion and signifies a return to the tactility of shaping materials”.

Put simply, items such as tops and drawstring bags are made only upon order, which means there is no fabric waste. The collection is created with support from DesignSingapore Council (Dsg)’s Good Design Research initiative.

Gin Lee Make uses the pleating technique, and customers can choose their choice of pleats and colours for their items. The pro- cess involves pleating and steaming pieces of fabric, which is all done in front of the customer.

Another sustainability effort by the studio is its Get-Order-On Demand (GOOD for short) which allows it to produce less, more precisely and not to have much overstock and waste at the end of the season. Customers get a discount off their purchases when they wait three to five weeks for their orders.

Read the feature here.