The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for West Asia in collaboration with the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Oman organized a 4-day workshop in Muscat, Oman from 6 to 9 February 2023 on extracting and using colorants from natural sources. Held under the umbrella of the UNEP West Asia Sustainable Fashion Academy initiative, the workshop brought together participants from Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“This workshop is an opportunity for fashion design students to explore the world of colorants, dive into sustainable and circular fashion practices, and hear from experts on their experiences in the industry” said Sami Dimassi UNEP Representative and Regional Director for West Asia.
The main objective of this workshop was to teach fashion designers how to produce biodegradable printed textiles, extracting organic pigments from different natural plants and applying them on organic fabric to create printed fashionable textiles.
Awareness of sustainability and circularity issues and the need for change in the textile industry has never been higher. A 2020 UNEP report has estimated that the textile industry emits 3.3 billion Metric tons of greenhouse gases annually contributing largely to climate change. In addition to that, the industry consumes up to 215 trillion liters of water annually.
“West Asia region is a region vulnerable to climate change and characterized by water scarcity. It is crucial today more than ever, to deviate from water and energy intensive processes and adopt sustainable practices in colorant extraction, synthesis, and application of whether natural or synthetic colorants”, said Dimassi.
Moving towards sustainable and circular textiles will require a holistic approach and changes at each stage in the value chain. Achieving systemic changes will require coordinated actions by all stakeholders across the region with the aim to set stronger governance and policies to drive change, enable industry-wide action, and change production and consumption habits.
The UNEP West Asia Sustainable Fashion Academy initiative, was established in 2021 to share expertise, build a sustainable fashion network, promote best practices, induce behavioral change and mainstream circularity in the fashion industry for a greener planet.
