Sandhya Garg — How We Make Things
Slow Fashion, Without the Overclaiming
What We Can Prove · What We Won't Claim · Cost Per Wear · 10 Pieces · XS–3XL
Quick Answer
"Sustainable" is an unregulated word, and most fashion brands using it are not substantiating anything. So here is what a small studio can actually stand behind: we make in limited runs and generally do not restock, which means nothing is produced speculatively. We print to order rather than to stock. We choose natural fibres because they age and can be repaired where synthetics pill permanently. And we construct garments to be altered rather than replaced. What we do not claim: carbon neutrality, third-party certification, or a percentage figure we cannot document.
The most useful thing I can tell you about sustainable fashion is that almost nobody selling it is being precise. The word has no legal definition in most markets, no agreed measurement, and no requirement that anyone using it prove anything. Which means a page like this is worth more if it draws its own limits than if it makes bigger claims.
I am a Project Runway designer running a small Los Angeles label. I am not going to tell you buying a dress saves the planet. I will tell you exactly how these are made and let you weigh it.
What Is Actually True Here
| Practice | Why it matters, and how you can check it |
|---|---|
| Limited runs, rarely restocked | Overproduction is the industry's central problem — clothing made that nobody buys. We make small quantities and let them sell out. You can verify this yourself: pieces on this site regularly show one or two units left, and do not come back. |
| Printed to order, not to stock | Digital printing means we are not dyeing bulk yardage speculatively and hoping a colourway sells. Fabric is printed against actual production rather than against a forecast. |
| Natural fibres by default | Cotton, linen, silk and viscose age and can be repaired. Polyester pills, and pilling cannot be undone — a garment that looks worn out after ten washes is not sustainable at any price. Composition is on every product page. |
| Built to be altered | Seam allowance and finishing decide whether a garment has a second life. Turn any dress inside out — if there is no fabric beyond the seam it can never be let out, and it dies with your current measurements. |
| Made to measure available | A garment cut to your measurements is a garment that does not get returned, and returns are one of the least visible sources of waste in online retail. |
The seam allowance point is the one worth taking to any brand, not just this one — it is set out in full in how to tell whether a garment will last.
What I'm Not Going to Claim
Not carbon neutral
We ship physical objects across the world. That has a footprint, and buying offsets would not change the footprint — it would change how it reads on a webpage. I would rather tell you it exists.
No third-party certification
Certification schemes are expensive and largely built for volume manufacturers. We do not hold one. Where a specific fabric is certified organic, it says so on that product page and nowhere else.
No percentage figures
You will not find a water-saving percentage on this page. Numbers like that need documentation behind them, and if I cannot show you the documentation I should not be printing the number.
[SANDHYA: the live page currently claims digital printing uses "up to 95% less water" with "no chemical runoff". I have removed it. If your printer or mill will give you that figure in writing, with a stated baseline and a date, put it back here and cite them by name — sourced, it is a real asset. Unsourced, it is the kind of claim that gets a brand written about for the wrong reason. Also note that "no chemical runoff" is very unlikely to be accurate, since digital printing still involves fabric pre-treatment and post-print washing. Delete this box either way.]
The most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe. The second most sustainable is the one you will still want in ten years.
Even the Headline Statistic Is Contested
You have probably read that fashion produces around ten per cent of global carbon emissions. It appears everywhere, including in a great deal of brand marketing. It is also a figure that researchers and journalists have repeatedly struggled to trace to a primary source.
The more carefully constructed estimates are lower. McKinsey and the Global Fashion Agenda's Fashion on Climate analysis put the industry at roughly 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which is in the region of four per cent of the global total. Still enormous. Still worth acting on. But a brand that repeats an inflated figure to sell you a dress is doing the same thing it accuses fast fashion of doing — using the environment as a marketing device rather than a constraint.
The Argument That Does Hold Up
Strip away the claims and one thing survives, because it is arithmetic rather than assertion: a garment worn many times has a lower footprint per wear than several garments worn once each. That is true regardless of who made either of them.
Where it works
A $298 dress worn to four events a year for five years is twenty wears at about $15 each, and one garment manufactured. Four $80 dresses worn twice each is eight wears at $40, and four garments manufactured. Fewer things, more use, less money.
Where it doesn't
Buying an expensive dress you wear four times is $75 a wear, and it is not more sustainable than a cheap one worn thirty times. The maths only works if the wearing actually happens. If you cannot name three occasions, do not buy it — from us or anyone.
Which produces the only genuinely useful instruction on this page, and it is not a sales one: wear what you already own more often, and wash it less. Laundering is a substantial share of a garment's lifetime footprint, and most clothing is washed more than it needs to be. Airing, spot-cleaning and steaming extend a garment's life and reduce its impact at the same time — the specifics by fabric are in our garment care guide.
Made to Be Kept · Artisanal · XS to 3XL
Ten Pieces, Honestly Described
Natural fibres, real prices, real stock. Where a piece is nearly gone it says so — that is what limited production actually looks like.
Natural Fibre, Deep Stock — The Pieces That Earn Their Cost
Adjustable by Construction — Fits Through Change, No Alteration
Repairable Hand Work — Where the Cost Actually Goes
Most styles XS · S · M · L · XL · XXL · XXXL · Archive pieces in limited sizes as noted · Made to measure · Care guide
Frequently Asked Questions
What does slow fashion actually mean?
Producing and buying fewer garments, made to last longer and worn more often. In practice it means limited production runs rather than continuous restocking, natural fibres that age rather than degrade, and construction that allows a garment to be altered instead of discarded. It is not a certification and it has no legal definition.
Is expensive clothing automatically more sustainable?
No. Price tells you almost nothing on its own. What matters is whether the garment gets worn repeatedly. An expensive dress worn four times has a worse footprint per wear than a cheap one worn thirty times, and any brand implying otherwise is selling rather than informing.
How much of global emissions does fashion actually produce?
The widely repeated figure of around ten per cent is difficult to trace to a primary source and has been criticised on those grounds. McKinsey and the Global Fashion Agenda's Fashion on Climate analysis estimated roughly 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, in the region of four per cent of the global total. That is still an enormous number.
How can I tell if a brand's sustainability claims are real?
Look for specifics rather than adjectives. A named fibre and its composition, a named certification with a certificate number, a stated production quantity. Be sceptical of unattributed percentages, of "eco-friendly" with no referent, and of any brand claiming zero impact — shipping physical objects has a footprint, and a brand willing to say so is usually being more careful elsewhere too.
What is the single most effective thing I can do?
Wear what you already own more often, and wash it less. Laundering is a substantial share of a garment's lifetime footprint and most clothing is washed more than it needs. Airing, spot-cleaning and steaming extend a garment's life and reduce its impact simultaneously.
Are Sandhya Garg garments certified sustainable?
No, and we would rather say so. We hold no third-party certification and we are not carbon neutral. What we do is make in limited runs that are rarely restocked, print to order rather than to stock, work primarily in natural fibres, and offer made-to-measure. Where an individual fabric is certified organic, that is stated on that product page specifically.
Keep Reading
Before You Buy
Will This Garment Last?
Seam allowance, fibre and reference.
Make It Last
Garment Care Guide
Washing less is the highest-impact habit.
Inside the Studio
How Our Prints Are Made
Drawn by hand, printed to order.
No Waste, No Returns
Made to Measure
Cut to you, so it does not come back.
About the Writer
Sandhya Garg is a Project Runway Season 13 designer who won two challenges on the show and presented her collection at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. She studied womenswear and pattern cutting at London College of Fashion and worked at Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Liberty London, and Alice Temperley. Her Los Angeles label makes limited-edition artisanal dresses in original hand-drawn prints — featured in Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan and Vogue online, in sizes XS–3XL with made to measure available.
Project Runway · Vogue · Marie Claire · XS–3XL
Fewer things. Worn far longer.
Sandhya Garg is a Los Angeles boutique creating limited-edition artisanal dresses in original hand-drawn prints, hand embroidery and heritage textiles. Sizes XS–3XL, shipped from Scottsdale within 1–3 days.
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