Luxury’s Hidden Indian Supply Chain

worked in India fashion for years. the factory owners lead a very posh life style while caring nothing about the plight of their employees. but that is a typical Indian attitude of those who have the capital for a business. and their workers poor circumstances are a boring issue to discuss with them. a hardened group like i never met before or after.

Why am I not surprised that the luxury ‘first’ world goods are embroidered and embellished by people who sleep on dirt floors and work 17 hours a day. Such a huge disconnect between the makers and the wearers. And the fashion industry knows and the workers, as always are expendable. Couldn’t the designers just get together and do the right thing and making a living wage, humane conditions and safety a priority? Especially now, in a world Pandemic ? Can’t we just treat each other with respect and kindness. Please.

Thank you so much for your article. I am embroiderer in Paris and I can tell that there is less and less work. Customers should know the realty. Many videos about "little hands" are not the truth. It's not about budgets. There a looooooot of money in luxury brands. Some dresses in Haute Couture have the price of a (new) (and nice) car. It's about choices. It's about political volontee, to keep our craftmanship in France, to be proud of our knowledge and to show exceptionnal artcraft, consistent with the final price asked to the customer. And to pay the right price, to anyone, a french or an indian embroiderer.

And the Indian government is, where, in this ongoing globalization of cheap labor? China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, et all the cheap labor havens, threw off colonialism, imperialism- and now themselves enable, encourage, turn a blind eye to a similar system of exploitation. Their own governments are complicit in every instance. As for we consumers being unaware- please. I quit buying from a high-end clothing store (and not even remotely on par with the prices in this article) a decade or so ago, when I notices the tags said ‘made in India, Bangladesh’ but the prices were still sky high. We knew then, and still do. A hundred years from now, history will compare this version of globalization to colonialism- and it won’t be pretty.

True that. I know a woman in Mumbai who runs a dress making business. One of Adele's dresses, one she wore at an Oscar ceremony, was made in her workshop.

First learned of this while watching Van Der Noten documentary on Netflix!

This can hardly be a surprise to anyone.

It is the greed of greed of those who already have far too much and yet it will never be enough.

Of course. Are we surprised?

Dang I should just go to India and buy Hermes bags for like nothing from these people. I love how a bag that costs like $50 to make costs $10,000 when Dior or Hermes is slapped on it. My $1000 Prada bag didn't even have real metal studs. The second I scratched it the metal peeled off to reveal plastic. What a joke. I used to be obsessed with brands, and I wont lie I still am. But I've also discovered the wonderful world of buying custom made clothing. Way cooler, I can design my own cloths, and better quality.

Ironic - people such as J-Lo et al have no compunction strutting their stuff in garments made by what is effectively slave labor. Great lip service paid by such celebrities re ideas such as “empowerment” and “equality”...but seems this only for those in the Northern hemisphere. Shameful. Thanks for revealing NYT.

No wonder why fashion houses throw embroidery, sequins, faux pearls on every piece or garment.

This is a really good article. Too many people struggling. There is no reason they could not be paid even 15 dollars per hour. The people buying these clothes could pay more or the middlemen could take less. The only way we could regulate this is to demand that the workers get paid fairly. And while one might say 15 dollars per hour is high for India we have to realize that with TPP and all their wages impact the compression of wages in the first world as well. When will we get a wealth tax, M4A etc. in the US? Oh, I forgot, Joe Biden is going to lead us to the future and he says it is too expensive.

There are people working hard to improve the lot of those creating beautiful embroideries and other arts in India, including Chandaben Shroff in Gujarat who with her family has developed not just a store selling beautifully made clothing from village women, but also has built a school and museum of textiles near Budj. If you can find a copy, read Stephen Huyler's book, "Daughters of India" to learn more about some of these amazing women, a number of whom I had the privilege of meeting when I travelled to India in 2013. Also check out a French woman, Brigette Singh who has a block printing factory near Jaipur which employs many locals and sells clothing direct from her own store there. There are also coops where one can buy directly from the artisans if you are fortunate enough to travel there.

On a recent trip to India, I visited Bagru, the block printing village outside of Jaipur. The artisans that I spoke to just don't want their children to inherit their craft. While their work gets sold for a lot, they are cheap labor in a highly complex supply chain. They don't own the relationships with the big names that they work for, do not design their own work, procure their own materials or sell their own work. They only get paid for the labor that they put in. They knew that their work sold for a lot but have accepted their fate but are very clear in their heads that this is not a fate they want for their own children if they could help it.

Good reporting. Following up with March 1st article on situation in Bangladesh by Elizabeth Paton, a synthesis clearly highlights the limits of transnational arrangements doing the job of a nation state - enforcement. Expecting brands and retailers to continue wages & safety due diligence in perpetuity is a fallacy. Not all of the products from these factories go to high name brands. Some of these end up in the local market. These cottage factories will never be part of any Accord/Alliance/Nirapon/Utthan pact, but may occasionally get orders from luxury foreign brands. Only a national body can bring these units under compliance. Supplier discontent with such pacts will emerge once they see that supply to the same brands will differ in requirements due to country of origin. This partly explains why Bangladeshi factories have soured on the Accord.

There is another side to this story. Virtually everybody works hard in India and having an income in an impoverished country, such as India, can make all the difference in a person's life. I agree that luxury brands should oversee their brands and be socially responsible, but keep in mind that the people who ofter exploit workers are the people who live there. On the other hand, I have a friend who sells clothing that is manufactured in Indonesia (another poor nation). She has lifted women out of poverty. They have been able to buy homes and cars, and have been able to send their children to schools. Their children now work in the business. To compare working conditions in third world countries to America, neglects to acknowledge that sometimes a job in these countries, is the difference between living on the street and having shelter. People in Mumbai, literally have to pay for space on a sidewalk to sleep on. Wealthy people in India have servants who sleep on the floor. While India says it has abolished the caste system, it is very much alive and because arranged marriages are the norm, is ensured to exist for a long time. I will note that two of the embroiders in the picture are wearing headphones, which means they likely have phones, which means they likely have access to the internet, which means they have access to information, which has led many in India, to education and a middle class life. Garments in another photo are clearly meant for the Indian market.

We know this - you have only to look at these products and know that the work is being done by poorly paid artisans in India. I always find it fascinating that people here are willing to pay $300 for something that would cost maybe $50 back in India (at one of the higher end places), while being oblivious to the fact that it was probably made for $10, most of which likely went to the middleman. It's pure margin for the fashion retailers - and of course it pays for their real cost, which isn't manufacturing, but marketing. And meanwhile the artisans in India get next to nothing...

In other words all the liberal activist celebrities are fully swathed in slave labor garments ,how rich indeed.

NYT has done a good job of bringing up poor working conditions in textile design subcontractor factories. Famous design houses and their affluent customers wear a big responsibility in highlighting abuses. Ethnicity of the workers has nothing to do with their lower wages.

Excellent reporting. This article is one that luxury goods consumers need to read and absorb well. I have had the opportunity to visit some of the karkhanas of these karigars and the conditions are appalling. The karigars are really badly exploited, develop muscular-skeletal issues due to the nature of the work and are really paid a pittance.

Fashion industry veteran here (50 years) I have to paraphrase Captain Renault in 'Casablanca'... "I'm shocked! Shocked to find that unprotected labor is going on over there."

More evidence as to why we all need to care about how and where our products are made. Most of us have little choice but to buy clothes from companies employing sweat shop laborers with no protections, and we turn a blind eye to save a few bucks. When was the last time any of bought a pair of running shoes made in the US? For those obsessed with luxury products, congratulations on contributing to the enormous profit margins of people who are far richer than you will ever be.

Very good article. I would like more information on whether the big Indian luxury brands - e.g. Sabyasachi, Anita Dongre, etc. are treating their karigars any better. Their creations are seen as a must-have in the mega billion Indian bridal industry, and the garments sell for many lakhs of rupees each. How much of that is trickling down to the actual karigars?

The wealthy customers should know how to visit these factories and meet the talented artisans who are paid next to nothing and are barely subsisting so they may compensate them directly, woman to woman. Their names and the factory address should be in the pocket of each garment with the amount the artisan received. Don’t boycott them, pay them.

So glad to see this article. Fashion houses should also start giving recognition and credit, at least, to the master craftsmen in India for the work they do apart from paying good wages and providing health and other benefits. This article also shows how little Indian designers have succeeded in the global market. They have easier access to these artisans and speak the same design language and yet we don't see any Indian designer or design house that is truly world class

Improvement in the karigar's wages and status will not be achieved with these toothless unenforceable pacts. It requires superstars like J-Lo and others to publicly decline wearing clothes produced for (not by) these fashion lines unless there is a clearrecord of improvement in the artisans involved in producing them. The question is if these superstars have the courage to boycott if the fashion houses do not follow suit.

Excellent article on an issue that has not seen much light. It is appalling that international luxury brands are also contributors to poor conditions for labor in India, but not surprising. Thank you for great journalism.

Thank you for this excellent reporting. its an issue that needs to be highlighted that all the designer clothes at the top range are made with slave labor, by skilled but under-fed tired (mostly Muslim) artisans who are at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy in India

People like Ms. Lopez have the power, influence and financial means to just say they will not wear those garments unless the workers who made them have decent working conditions and wages. They should be aware of articles like these and be more mindful of the stuff they present to the public, even when it is done under contract.

Excellent article. The handiwork in the Indian tailoring and embroidery industry has been relatively unacknowledged by the luxury houses, probably extending to the use of silk and other fabrics.