Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation has collaborated with the Fashion Design Council of India to advocate for a child-labour free supply chain in the Indian garment and textile industry. The campaign “Not Made By Children” aims to equip homegrown designers with leadership opportunity to positively impact the society by doing their bit for a child-labour free India.
The campaign between FDCI and the foundation was jointly announced on the first day of Lotus Make-up India Fashion Week in the presence of Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and FDCI President Mr. Sunil Sethi. The event saw 15 key designers stand together and take the pledge, “I pledge to manufacture garments that are Not Made By Children. This is my contribution to make a child-labour free India.”
The participating designers included Namrata Joshipura, Anjana Bhargav, Amit Vijaya & Richard Pandav (AmRich), Priyadarshini Rao, Anju Modi, Gautam Rakha (from Rabani & Rakha), Charu Parashar, Pankaj Ahuja (from Pankaj & Nidhi), Paras Bairoliya (from Geisha Designs), Rahul Mishra, Reynu Tandon, Rina Dhaka, Samant Chauhan and Varun Bahl.
Speaking on the occasion, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi says, ‘Fashion can attain its higher purpose by blending culture, creativity and compassion. ‘Not made by children’ is an opportunity through which designers, brands and consumers will be able to enhance the inner and outer beauty of the world.’
Mr Sunil Sethi, FDCI President added, ‘This is an exciting and meaningful association for me and the FDCI members. We look at this moment as the first step towards creating a child-labour free ecosystem in the fashion sector.’
The garment and textile industry is one of the largest employer in India and a fast moving consumer product. Garment sourcing supply chains are a complicated web spanning many regions. The supply chain for garments trickles down to several tiers in the informal segment of the economy even at household and community level.
Child labour can be found at different layers in the supply chain, and the vast majority of them is concentrated in the value-addition handwork segment of the supply chain. A number of garment manufacturers sub-contract orders to other smaller units, which do not display high standards of social responsibility. One of the most controversial sectors that thrive on child labour is sequins or zari work, intricate embroidery.
It is extremely difficult to estimate the total number of children working illegally in the garment sector and the subset working in handwork. However, approximate reports have indicated a possible figure as high as 100,000 in Delhi and neighbouring areas. Children in these workshops are mainly brought from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
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