Wear wrinkled clothes on Mondays; here's why research body has asked staff not to iron clothes

WITH corporates always looking to make work culture a little more fun, an Indian firm has just introduced Wrinkled Monday to support the environment.

It's like casual Fridays but for a cause – it wants employees to embrace sustainable fashion and positively impact the environment.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's premier research organization, has asked its staff to wear wrinkled clothes on Monday in its recent 'Wrinkles Acche Hai' (WAH) initiative. 

CSIR officials confirmed to India Today that the WAH initiative has been introduced and the the staff have been asked to wear non-ironed clothes.

Here is why CSIR began ‘Wrinkles Acche Hai’: 

CSIR's WAH initiative is a symbolic fight against climate change; to contribute to saving energy. 

CSIR officials told India Today that the initiative is about making people aware of climate change and how the tiniest things can contribute to the global fight against it.

The 'Wrinkles Acche Hai' campaign was launched as part of CSIR's 'Swachhata Pakhwada' from 1-15 May. These SOPs will be implemented during June-August 2024 as a pilot trial.

The 'Swachhata Pakhwada' initiative aims to reduce electricity consumption in CSIR laboratories nationwide and trim workplace electricity expenses by 10 per cent.

Dr N Kalaiselvi, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the first woman director general of CSIR, said the campaign is a part of CSIR's broader endeavour to conserve energy. 

Dr Kalaiselvi said ironing each set of clothes emits nearly 200g of carbon dioxide, and therefore, the objective of WAH is to cut down on it for a day each week.  

"CSIR decided to contribute by wearing non-ironed clothes on Mondays. Ironing each set of clothes amounts to emission of 200 g of carbon dioxide. So, by wearing non-ironed clothes, one can prevent emission of carbon dioxide to the tune of 200 g," she said.