Designer Alienation

Between the sexed-up fashion industry and faceless artisans, the thread which weaves the tale of prosperity is replete with tragedy

Akash Bisht Delhi

Ismail Bhai, a 70-year-old-artisan, with wrinkled face and fragile fingers, expertly puts a needle across a plain silk cloth in the process of knitting a design. Glaring through his thick glasses he weaves a leaf on the cloth with multicoloured threads. Once done, he beams with pride and exclaims, “Bahut sundar lag rahaa hai.” (This is looking beautiful.) Satisfied, he orders a tea for himself. “It’s one week of hard work and soon it will be on display in one of the prosperous shopping malls across the town. My designs are bought by many retail houses and fashion designers. I have done work for Ritu Beri and JJ Valaya, but, of course, for a very, very paltry sum,” says the septuagenarian, bitterness in his voice.

Ismail is one of the many artisans who migrated to Delhi from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in search of better opportunities. They work in cloistered, dingy rooms oblivious of the poor ventilation or hygienic conditions in the narrow, crowded Karigar Gali of the old market, Chandni Chowk, Delhi.

Remuneration of these master artisans varies from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 and relies on the skill and time required to weave amazing, meticulous, painstaking patterns on a plain cloth.  While the heavily ornamented designs fetch around Rs 1 lakh or more in malls and designer boutiques, these karigars are never paid the agreed mehentana (wages). He adds, “Big stores and designer boutiques never pay us the agreed sum and we have to literally beg them for our share.”

Many of these artisans recall selling their designs to leading Indian designers for a paltry sum. They say that most of their designs and products of hard work are displayed in malls under a different brand name. To their dismay, while many of these designers are rolling in riches, they are barely able to exist on their meagre income. “These designers do nothing for the poor artisans who are sweating in the ghettos of Kolkata or Coimbatore. They are here just to make money,” rues Pranjoy Guha Thakurta, a Delhi-based economic journalist. Often working in sub-human conditions, that defy conventions of all labour laws, these artisans plead for a little recognition. “We just want people to know that it’s the karigars who are behind these fabulous dresses. Let the designers make profits. We only want a little recognition because we have dedicated our lives to this work,” pleads Rehman, an artisan in the Karigar Gali.

Despite Indian designers going global and bagging gigantic contracts with corporate honchos and international fashion houses, these artisans are left wanting the support of the very fashion industry which thrives on their labour, skills and sweat. While the fashion industry is expected to grow, the fate of these artisans still remains uncertain, trapped in tragedy, in a rapidly changing neo-liberal realm. KPMG, management consultants, conducted a study which shows that the Rs180 crore Indian fashion industry is bound to inflate to Rs 1,000 crore in the next five to 10 years. But will accelerated growth benefit the karikars? Shopkeepers in Chandni Chowk unanimously echoed that designers exploit these workers and make them work 24/7 for a paltry sum. “Designers don’t care about these karigars sitting in small, stinking rooms designing clothes that will fetch them massive contracts and global recognition,” complains the owner of Hani and Mani Bhai stores in Chandni Chowk.