'People shouldn't be made to pay a bigger price for being eco-friendly.'
Two years ago, when Smriti Irani took over as textile minister, she welcomed her new role with a hashtag.
Her Twitter post with the tag #IWearHandloom became viral in a day.
Designers, actors and commoners joined the campaign that was aimed to promote sustainable clothing and revive the handloom and cottage industry in India.
The excitement soon faded away, as handloom, the runway favourite could not transform into common man's clothing.
Reason? Sustainable handlooms are expensive, hence, not affordable.
Dia Mirza, who is an UN Enviroment Goodwill Ambassador recently gave an inspiring speech on how we can promote handloom in India.
The former Miss Asia Pacific spoke about 'Fashion for Earth' at the Lakme Fashion Week Winter/Festive 2018.
Dia Mirza believes the government needs to regulate the costing of eco-friendly and natural products in order to make sustainability the way of life.
'Costing is a major factor which needs to be looked at to make handlooms popular. Now the more natural the thing is the more expensive it will be. I believe the government will have to play a very important role in that. There are companies producing natural stuff to get tax benefits.
'I believe people shouldn't be made to pay a bigger price for being eco-friendly. It discourages people from using sustainable products. Not everybody has the means of the income to afford this kind of stuff.
'Cost of these products have to come down to make it mainstream,' Dia told PTI.
The 36-year-old actor says the fact that India is the biggest producer of handloom and hand-woven material can make the country the frontrunner is explaining the necessity of sustainability to the world.
'India has an advantage that we are a developing economy and our businesses are still being formed. There are so many new enterprises and first time designers who are setting up. So if we bring the awareness to them and they are informed about being conscious about sustainability with the example of the existing players, things will be amazing.'
'India is not unfamiliar with sustainability so all we need to do is bring back the old traditions. We can be an example for the world, which we can do easily because science is in our favour. All we have to learn is to be imaginative and creative,' she says.
Dia spoke about driving circular economy and explained how it can contribute in promoting sustainable fashion.
'The world is finally acknowledging that fashion is the higher carbon producing industry then aviation and marine industry. There is only a certain amount of resource which environment provides us and we have already surpassed the amount we should have used.
'I think the more and more people understand this, the better the choices they will make.
'What people need to understand is in the end what we do with the environment, we are doing it to ourselves. There is no way to escape it.'
Dia says all her choices, be it career or personal, are governed by the good they can do to the society.
'I want to be a part of a conversation which entertains, engages but also give people an opportunity to learn. It will reflect in all my choices be it movies or other things I do,' she says.
With inputs from PTI
