Manufacturing of garments in India

Hi everyone,

After a 2 week hiatus mainly for some cultural travels to Egypt and family visits within India, I am back with a video of a typical garment manufacturing unit in India. Most employees learn their skills on the job and work in a room with various machines and tables. As seen in this video there are roughly 10 sewing machines, a long table for the pattern maker, cutter and material handler. The patterns are all stored after labeling and recording by hanging them on the side of the wall closest to the pattern maker. Contrary to the busy environment, most patterns, materials and finished clothing are well managed. They also have a mannequin and a pressing table to ensure correct sizing and finish. The environment is comfortable and employees are encouraged to take frequent breaks for tea and food. They also have some music on (as heard in video) to be relaxed and work more effectively. They are times when they are required to work for 15-18 hours to meet deadlines in which case food and/or overtime is always provided. Contrary to all the "sweat shops" and child labour stories that are popular in the western world, this is more the reality of wide scale manufacturing in India.

Let me know what you think.

Photos of different natural dyed fabrics done by the expert in the department- Renuka a high school graduate who has perfected the art of natural dyeing.

Off to a different exotic location- Egypt. See you in 10 days!

Natural Dyeing and the Urban artisan

Happy 2010 to all! Over the last two days I have been interacting with the people of Adiv exports, a company that manufactures garments and naturally dyed fabrics. What amazed me most were the employees who have had no formal training or even an education beyond high school, creating beautiful fabrics and garments whose quality was similar to any designer clothing we see in the Western world today. Truly, I would call them the "urban artisan" since their skills are unique and originating from hard work and inherent talent.

Natural dyeing is an Eco-friendly concept that has been gaining popularity in recent times. At Adiv, the dyes are made with recycleable waste such as pomegranate skins, herbal plants and flowers that have been disposed in large volumes by the numerous temples in India. Adiv also experiments with pegs, threads and various tie dyeing methodologies to create unique looks with their ecofriendly dyes.

Attached is a video of the creation of a fabric dyed with pomegrante skin in two different ways-1) Attaching pegs 2) Rouching (tieing the fabric with thread)