Fashion Revolution Day - Part 3: Thoughts from India

'We are faceless. We are just numbers in the big brands’ audit reports and company presentations.

Nobody likes to know who we are and what we are doing.

Why are you talking to us in the production floor instead of meeting our owners in a 5 star hotel?’

Krishna, our chief tailor was suspicious and surprised when we first met him and talked about Arthur & Henry and the importance of their contribution in making a long lasting, beautifully and ethically made shirts. 

It’s almost two years now and every single time that we walk into the shop floor, our hearts are filled with immense pride and joy when we see the way our tailors value our relationship and the love and care they put in when making Arthur & Henry shirts.

Being a small start-up brand, we are under no illusion of the magnitude of the change that we are making in the livelihoods of our tailors and cotton farmers but we are proud that we have taken some positive steps in the right direction rather than bashing the big retailers or blaming the factory owners or everybody else except us (that’s being intellectually lazy as our co-founder Mark wrote!).

It’s been a year that more than 1100 people lost their lives in Rana Plaza in Bangladesh whilst trying to cater to the never ending desire for cheap clothes and it is high time that we take serious look at the impact of our consumption. It’s time to make consumption a political decision, whether it is food or cloths.

And it’s time for us to thank our incredible tailoring partners! Thank you for being part of our team and for making us guilt free shirts. Together we can create a sustainable future for our next generation, one thread at a time!

Sreeranga Rajan is co-founder of Arthur & Henry and is based in Bangalore, India.