There’s No Sustainability Without Decolonisation

They say that the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. And yet, that’s exactly what we keep trying to do.

It is no secret that the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters in the world – the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions. There’s also no doubt that it is unchecked, extractive industrialisation that has led us here.

Image credit: Pexels, shot by mumtahin_atanni

 

But dig a little deeper, and you’ll see that the beginning of the end we find ourselves in, was with colonisation. Look at everything that constitutes the fashion industry’s terrible impact on the planet and its people — from synthetic dyes that are polluting our soil and water, to destroying soil quality by forcing monocrops on our lands, to decimating the artisans’ livelihoods by mass production using power looms — every little part of this industry’s deeply damaging practices come from colonisation.

Before we even begin to solve the problems of the fashion industry, we need to understand this fact. We can only dismantle this extractive system by first acknowledging it. And that’s precisely why we say at Jiwya, that there’s no sustainability without decolonisation.

Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it?

When large corporations and governments, with their massive resources, seem to be destroying the planet, it is absolutely fair to feel helpless. But we are here to remind you that no change started from those in power.

It was always people like you and us, who made choices – choices that began with one person and inspired a million others. Those destroying the planet are counting on us to put our money behind them.

But what if we didn’t? What if we decided that we will not fuel the machine that’s built on indiscriminate extraction – one piece of clothing at a time. 

This is a call to conscientiously dismantle the colonial legacy by refusing to put our money behind these systems.

Image credit: Pixabay, shot by Kevin_Snyman

 

Our Ethos Behind Decolonisation

The Global South has been the foundation upon which today’s fashion industry has built its destructive roots. Our land, our people, our water, our art – all that has been used for the profit of a few, at the cost of the planet.

Jiwya is on a mission to bring back the centuries old wisdom of sustainable creation – 100% plant-based, not an ounce of synthetic material, and completely compostable and biodegradable. Our clothes come from the soil, and are absorbed back completely into the soil. This wisdom comes from slow and conscious arts, passed down from generation to generation, using only what the Earth already gives us. Nothing more.

But it is not just us – the Global Majority – who need to be a part of this movement. The Global North needs to participate. They need to be allies.

So we are taking this movement to the very heart of the former empire – London.

We are launching our new Spring-Summer collection, founded on dismantling every part of the colonised process, in the London Fashion Week in September 2025.

This is an invitation to the Global North to join us in rejecting the extractive systems upon which the fashion industry has been built. And to choose better.

It’s an invitation to choose plant-based fashion instead of that made using fossil fuels or animals, clothes that have been made by people respectfully compensated for their skills, and of course, buying only what you need.

It’s an invitation to not blame each other, but to join forces to right the wrong. With love and hope.

No mass production, no mass consumption, no extraction. 

Handmade artisanship. Zero-waste production. 100% plant-based materials.