THE FUTURE IS SUSTAINABLE

VANITA BADLANI'S BRAND LA BANTE LONDON IS VEGAN, SUSTAINABLE, AND LUXURIOUS ALL AT THE SAME TIME. SASHA LALCHANDANI FINDS OUT WHAT SET HER ON HER PATH TO ADVOCATING FOR SLOW FASHION

- SASHA LALCHANDANI

In a world driven by more, Vanita Badlani has managed to strike that rare balance of meeting demand by means of an ethical supply. The founder of LaBante London - a luxury vegan accessories brand that sells all kinds of bags, jewellery and more recently shoes, set up her brand in 2009, and since then has been responsible for the planting of 142,980 trees and the removal of 48,242,784 kg of CO2 from the environment. "You can see this via the live tracker on our website. This has been achieved by planting ten trees per order, which makes any purchase carbon negative," she shares. And her impact doesn't end there, nor do her ambitions for creating a sustainable system of fashion.

"What sets our brand apart is our use of sustainable materials throughout all our products and in their packaging. We only use materials that can be recycled or will decompose, such as apple and vegetable leathers.

Something we have recently implemented is swing tags on our products that can be grown into wildflowers! We also proudly donate 10% of our yearly proceeds to charity."

But it was her adolescent experiences that stuck with her and shaped the brand and its philosophy of Fashion With Respect. Growing up in India, Vanita spent many a summer helping out at an uncle's factory watching the creation of beautiful garments for big name fashion brands. That coupled with being surrounded by a bevy of creative people (she names her grandmother and father as two!), created a burning desire in her to build a brand in the fashion industry. However, she also saw first-hand, the amount of waste that was created during the production process. And at an early age she not only realised that something needed to change, but also that she would be the change.