Mon, Feb 1, 2010
Six wealthy, spoiled Brittons with fashion-related jobs embark on a journey to India, to see how the throwaway-clothes they casually buy, wear and dump is made cheap enough. In New Delhi, they are recruited into the country's largest textile subcontractor, which produces for many prestigious Western labels. They stay in a strictly paternalistic factory supervisor's truly humble home. After a week stitching training, two are 'demoted' to unskilled labor, soon joined by the only Asian participant, with Indian roots, who couldn't cope emotionally with the stringent work floor code.
Mon, Feb 8, 2010
The Brits now join a subcontractor, where everyone must finish sewing a number of garments to Westerns retail standard. That proves exasperatingly hard to learn, even to judge for the fashion student. Combined with the primitive working conditions, pittance pay, paternalistic host and inhumane sleeping conditions, that nearly leads to a desertion from the reality by Richard, who also ruffles many feathers by scolding (the) India(ns), especially for their attitude, yet ends up appreciating workers basically sacrificing their lives for their offspring's future opportunities.
Mon, Feb 15, 2010
The six Brittons move north to Harijana, for the seasonal cotton harvest, the worst paid part of the fashion industry chain. After wining the whole train journey, the girls insist on spending most of their hoped-for budget on renting 'luxury' rooms. Picking cotton proves relatively enjoyable, except for Amrita, who is diagnosed allergic. Later the other five go work in a cotton processing mill, which proves backbreaking with additional stress from bully supervision. The girls make endless absurd scenes as if the clogged toilet were the boys's fault, while they return to the mill to make up for the five's low productivity wrecking the whole production line. Finally they move to Mumbai (Bomby), to experience the vile conditions in countless tiny, poorly improvised garment production sweatshops in Asia's largest slum.
Mon, Feb 22, 2010
The six Brits complete their Indian fashion industry experience in one of the countless the fully legal Bombay (Mumbai) mega-slum sweatshops. They are crammed worse the ever. On NGO inspector searching for illegal employment under age 14 stirs a lively debate about child labor, for which there is no viable economic alternative for the poor. The Brits also visit and help out a rescued child laborers home, where the boy found during their stay is brought, but new boys arrived already, even on Sunday.