A bright sunny morning of March 2006. The rumbling streets of Gandhi Nagar, which lies in the east of the capital. In the small, medium-sized and big shops located in the market, busy trading is taking place in readymade garments. Almost all the shops have buyers negotiating prices and products. Many are buying for the local Delhi market, the rest are taking the products to other states. While a majority pay in cash or by cheque, the rest walk off with or without paying an advance for booking the products to be transported later to them by road. The buyers and the sellers have satisfied expressions.

A little away from Gandhi Nagar lies Welcome Colony, one of the biggest jhuggi-jhopri (slum) clusters in Delhi. Amidst the dirt, filth, rotting, stinking garbage, which breeds all types of germs, flies and mosquitoes, stand one-room pucca or semi-pucca structures or hutments of the garment workers. In this inhumane, unhygienic living conditions that are unfit for human habitation, people are busy working for the contractors/middlemen and owners of garment shops and factories.

Gandhi Nagar is not only supposed to be Asia’s biggest market but also one of the world’s largest wholesale readymade garment markets. Except some locals buying readymade garments from Chandni Chowk, and selling them door-to-door, Gandhi Nagar had no history of garment-making or selling till the early 1970s. Even those who did the door-to-door selling confined themselves mainly to Ashok Gali, which later became the Ashok Bazaar.

The transition of the entire residential area to Asia’s biggest wholesale market was a slow but steady process. The door-to-door sellers started setting up shops and by 1975 there were around 150 readymade garment shops in the market. This number doubled in the next five years.

In 1982–83, during the Indira Gandhi regime, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the entire North-East were affected by the separatist movements. Amidst this socio-political turmoil, a positive development was happening at the Gandhi Nagar garment market. Many wealthy businessmen from Assam and Punjab shifted their bases to Delhi and established garment shops in Gandhi Nagar. Punjabis and Marwaris, experts in the business, magically transformed the entire market.

Almost all the residential areas became commercial areas. The market has expanded in such a way that currently around 5 lakh people are directly/indirectly dependent on this market. The whole of Gandhi Nagar is divided into different galis and bazaars, which specialize or deal in specified products. For example, Nehru Gali and Janta Gali deal with ladies’ garments whereas Subhash Gali sells children’s clothes. Mahavir Gali, of Gajanand Market, specializes in jeans and jackets.

The History of Jeans and Denim

Levis, Gap, Guess, Lee, Killer, Pepe, Lee Cooper, Wrangler, Flying Machine, Newport, Ruf & Tuf …. these brand names are not unfamiliar to Indian consumers. These branded jeans with different price ranges dominate the Indian market. The middle class as well as the upper middle class buy these and fill up their wardrobes.

“The word jeans come from a kind of material that was made in Europe. The material, called jean, was named after sailors from Genoa in Italy, because they wore clothes made from it. The word `denim` probably came from the name of a French material, serge de Nimes. Serge is a kind of material from Nimes, a town in France.”

 (source:http://www.wikipedia.org)

While USA generally takes the credit being the inventors of jeans, the reality is something different. The earliest known precursor for jeans is the Indian export of a thick cotton cloth, in the 16th century, known as dungaree dyed in indigo. This was sold near the Dongarii Fort near Mumbai, where the sailors bought it and cut it to suit their needs.

The jeans culture of the USA found its way to India around the late sixties. The demand for imported jeans surged. The jean market has expanded substantially in India since the mid 1970s. The homogenisation of cultures, facilitated by the satellite invasion, made jeans a symbol of a casual lifestyle for the ever-growing middle class in India. This attracted several jean manufacturers to the Indian market.

While in the West, the working class wore jeans for their ability to handle rough use, in the East, it became a status symbol for the elite, which later spread to the middle class. Now a pair of jeans is an unavoidable garment in everyone’s wardrobe.

Until 1992 unbranded jeans and minor Indian brands dominated the jean market in India. Only later did the customers become brand and quality conscious. Today jeans have become an important part of the young Indian wardrobe and its role is ever increasing.

The Toiling Hands

The good looking and tough jeans that we buy from the local market or mall is the end product of the labour of a number of workers. The manufacturing of jeans is very fragmented and the story of the end product is also the story of hard work and effort made by various people.

The normal production pattern in the making of jeans is given as attachment (figure 1).

The Bifurcation

Gandhi Nagar has two different types of businessmen. First, the merchant manufacturers, who are into manufacturing as well as selling and marketing of their products and, second, the merchants, or the shop-owners who deals with jeans bought from other manufacturers. In both cases, fabrication is not done at any factory but by individuals, who could be contractors, subcontractors or workers. Through the case study of the Gandhi Nagar Jeans Market, one can understand the variegated production patterns and the role of different stakeholders.

The cloth for making jeans comes mainly from the states of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Though Ahmednagar in Gujarat and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh used to be the most sought out places for sourcing the cloth, since the last decade there is a major shift, with the cloth from Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra monopolising the market. “The kora (off-white coloured thick cotton) coming from Ichalkaranji is high quality cloth suitable for the making of jeans,” says Dhanendra Jain, a wholesale cloth merchant in Gandhi Nagar. Dhanendra Jain, the earlier Pradhan of Chandni Chowk, has his own shop in the area. “When Gandhi Nagar became the centre of the garment market, I decided to shift here for easy access and more orders,” says Jain. He is one among those who have witnessed the slow and steady growth of Gandhi Nagar market to its present condition.

“After buying the cloth, the first process is to send it for washing,” says Kaleem Bhai of the USK Garments. The washing units are in Welcome Colony and Jafrabad. “The cloth is washed with high pressure water and chemicals,” says Saleem who runs a washing unit. Saleem is assisted by his brother Akhtar. “Before cutting and stitching jeans, the cloth used should be washed or else there are chances of it shrinking,” says Saleem. “The master tailor is given only the washed clothes,” says Mohammed Sohaib of Rifa Garments. “After the jeans are bought, if they shrink in the first wash, no one will be willing to buy our products,” he adds. The rate for pre-wash is Rs 2 per metre.

“Master Tailors are a Must”

In the process of making jeans the role of the master tailor is a crucial one. Every businessman who has a shop of his own has a master tailor. The number of master tailors may go up depending on how big tne shop is and how many orders the businessman gets. “Without master tailors we are helpless,” says Mohd. Sohaib. “The manufacturers give only the cut cloth to contractors, sub-contractors or workers. We are highly dependant on the master tailors,” he adds.

Kurshid Alam is a master tailor working for a readymade garment shop, which deals with jeans and jackets in Gandhi Nagar. The role of a master tailor is the most important element in the entire garment production. “The shop owner gives me the whole bundle of washed cloth to cut for jeans,” says Alam. “I measure the cloth, mark the measurements of all the designs and accessories including the pockets and then cut the cloth,” he adds. Earlier, the master tailor used to cut the designs by using scissors. “During that time, we could cut around 150 jeans per day,” says Abdul, another master tailor. “But with the introduction of the new cutting machine, we can cut around 1000 pieces a day,” he adds. Master tailors employ one or two helpers. These workers are kept on contract and they are paid an amount of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per month.

The difficulty is in the folding of the cloth according to the design of the jeans. The folding process requires at least 3 hours. The master has to mark the required measurements, which is again a time-consuming process. After measuring, marking and folding, they cut the pants. “Cutting is not an easy job. While doing so, every part of the pants has to be cut separately,” says Kurshid Alam.

The master tailor is paid at the rate of Rs 1 per pair of trousers. “Before the introduction of the cutting machine, we could make roughly around a hundred and fifty rupees per day,” says Rajinder, another master tailor. With the advent of the machine, a master tailor can cut around 1000 pants. This, however, does not mean that he is earning 1000 rupees per day. The rates have been drastically reduced and it varies from owner to owner or contractor to contractor. The rate can be as low as 60 paise per piece.  

The cloth cut by the master tailors is handed over to the contractors, subcontractors or workers for stitching.

Most of the contractors and subcontractors are experienced workers who have learnt the art of distributing work to others and getting it done promptly and regularly. All the processes in the figure above are, mostly taken up by contractors and subcontractors. For example, there are tailoring contractors, design contractors, buttonhole contractors and so on. On the other hand, there are a few big contractors who take up the entire production process on contract. While the latter deliver the finished product to the shop owner, the former takes up a single task in the production process.

Tailoring: Joining the Cut Pieces

The job of the tailor is to stitch together the cut pieces given by the master tailor. Meena, a tailor takes the work from a contractor. “I take 350 pieces of jeans at a time,” says Meena. She stitches the jeans sitting at her sewing machine in one of the tiny rooms in her house. Her family of 2 daughters, 2 sons and mother huddle themselves in another tiny room upstairs. “I cannot devote much time to stitching because I have to attend to my children as well as the other household chores,” says Meena. For Meena, finishing 350 pairs of jeans takes around 15 days. Sometimes, it may finish in 10 days. “The contractor pays me Rs 7–8 per jeans,” she says.

Mohammad Islam and his son Aslam take work from a contractor. They stitch jeans at the rate of Rs 8 per jeans. The jeans are stitched without making the buttonholes, because buttons and buttonholes are the work of another unit.

Islam goes to Gandhi Nagar to meet his contractor and collect the cut pieces of cloth for jeans. After he finishes stitching, he transports the jeans back to the contractor. The contractor provides him with thread and all the other things required for stitching. “I take 500 pieces of jeans in one go” There are 13 members in their family who are entirely dependent on Islam’s and Aslam’s earnings.

From Stitching to the Dyeing Unit

All the stitched jeans are collected by the producer and sent to the dyeing unit. Since the Delhi government has banned dyeing in Delhi as a part of the anti-pollution drive, the dyeing is done at Saibabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Though it is in UP, for Delhiites, it is just across the border. The kora jeans are dyed according to the specifications of the producer. The preferred colour is blue. “But nowadays, there are clients who want fancy colour combinations,” says Dyanchand. The price for dyeing varies from colour to colour. The rate for a simple common dye for a pair of jeans is Rs 15 but when colours and shades vary, the rates may go up to Rs 50 per jean.

The dyed jeans are collected by the producer and sent back to the tailor for finishing, including the fixing of zips. Zips are given to the tailors by the manufacturers. “We buy zips at wholesale rates and give it to the tailors,” says Dyanchand, a wholesale dealer. “Charges for the dyeing are met by the producer. We have to bundle the stitched jeans and send it to the dyeing unit,” says Nurul, another tailor. After the jeans are stitched and dyed, buttonholes are made.

The Kaajwala and Takiwala

Mohammad Abid is also known as Kaajwala because he makes buttonholes with the Kaaj machine, which is an imported second-hand machine bought for Rs 30,000. Buttonholes made out of the Kaaj machine are simple and the rate for each buttonhole is 15 paise. But if one requires a tough buttonhole or a buttonhole with a design it is done with the Taki. The Taki machine, which is again a second-hand imported machine, costs around Rs 75,000. The rate for making holes with the Taki machine is 25 paise.

The Kaaj and Taki machines are manufactured by the New York-based Herbert and Jaffe Inc. The sewing machines made by this company are the ones commonly seen in the Indian market. “The machines are brought to Delhi mostly by dealers from Mumbai. Moti Nagar, Karol Bagh and Nai Sadak are the Delhi markets where the machines are available,” says Abid. “The dealers pay duty and bring the products but often they bring it in without any customs clearance,” he adds.

Abid is a subcontractor and he gets work from many contractors. There are four people who work under Abid. There are the Kaaj and Taki machine operators and two helpers. The Kaaj machine operator is given a monthly salary of Rs 4,000 and his helper gets Rs 3,000. The Taki machine operator gets Rs 5,000 as salary and his operator Rs 3,000. Since the machine costs a lot it is not easy for everyone to do buttonholing work.

“Normally, the workers work for 8 hours and if they put in extra hours, I pay Rs 10 extra per hour,” says Abid. In a week, the workers work for 6 days. Friday is usually a holiday but often, the work pressure is so high that to meet the orders they work through the night. On an average the operators finish around 500 jeans per day. A normal pair of jeans requires only one buttonhole in the front. But the high fashion jeans with three or four pockets require more holes, which means more money. Abid says that he saves around Rs 3,000 per month after paying the workers.

Buttons and the Woman’s Role

The Kaajwala’s role ends with buttonholing. The producer or the contractor takes the jeans back from him and gives them to the contractor or workers for fixing the buttons. Amina Begam’s job in the garment sector is to fix buttons for the jeans. The more the buttons, more the money. For every button fixed, Amina gets 10 paise. The thread required for stitching is provided by the producer/contractor. Fixing buttons is mainly done by women. They take the stitched jeans home and work day and night to finish the task.

The jeans, which now have buttons, are then sent to have designs done.

Designing in Demand

For the last two years, Munna has been a sub-contractor of design work. He arranges for designs to be made on the jeans. “Designs on the pockets, hips and legs are at times greatly in demand,” says Munna. There are six workers working with Munna solely for making the designs. Munna collects work from contractors at the rate of Rs 200 for 100 jeans. There are 3 or 4 contractors who give work to him at this rate, which works out to Rs 2 per piece. “I pay Rs 1 per jeans to my worker,” says Munna.

Prior to this sub-contracting work, Munna was working for Shyam Garments, a readymade retailer chain. “I was paid Rs 5 per jeans while working with Shyam Garments,” he says. But now the price has drastically gone down,” he adds. “Since there is no dearth of workers, the competition is very high. If I am not taking up the work for Rs 2, there are hundreds of others who are ready to take it up for even 50 paise,” says Munna.

Once the designs are made, the jeans are now sent to the daga (thread) cutters.

Giving the Final Touches

Cutting and removing threads to give the jeans a final touch is again mostly work done by women. Hira Devi, a daga cutter, removes all the unwanted threads from the stitched jeans. She gets 30 paise per pair of jeans. “We go to the contractor and bring home bundles of jeans. Each bundle usually has 25 jeans. We carry the bundles on our head and bring them to our house,” says Hira Devi. “If we could afford it, then we would bring the bundles in a rickshaw which means we could bring more jeans in one go,” she says. Hira’s husband was a rickshaw puller. He died two years ago, since then Hira has been trying to make both ends meet. Sateesh, her 10 year-old son, has dropped out of school and sits with her while she works.

Shatto Devi’s story is similiar. She lives in a one-room jhuggi in Welcome Colony. Her husband is unemployed and she has 5 children to look after. “There is no dearth of work,” says Shatto. “One has to make time for household chores and do it,” she says. Since the work is done from home even the children volunteer to help their mother. Susheela is a dhaga cutter and her daughters, Rekha and Suleka, studying in standards 6 and 7, help in the work after school. 

After the threads are removed, the jeans move on to another set of people who are ready to fix the labels of the brand and size tag on to the jeans.

Labelling

Many dealers producing jeans attach their labels to the jeans. “We are manufacturers and makers of jeans, that is, both trousers and jackets. Right from its inception, our garment has been sold under the Rifa Garments label,” says Mohammed Shoaib. “A majority of the buyers ask for products without labels. In such cases, we don’t know where the product goes, under which label and how much profit they make,” he says. Sometimes the buyers provide us the labels,” he adds.

Wholesalers account for 95 per cent of the buyers who come to Gandhi Nagar market and only 5 per cent are retailers. The wholesalers come from Kolkata, Mumbai, Bihar, Assam and Kerala. The goods are transported by road and rail but the most preferred means is by road. The manufacturers send the products in wood, jute or cloth cartons.

The manufacturers of jeans in Gandhi Nagar do not know where their products are going and how much profit the buyers make out of it. “Buyers from Mumbai once came to us with a request from UNICEF for children’s jeans at a reduced rate,” says Haji Shabdad. “This order was to fulfill the charity work across the world for children by UNICEF,” he adds. “Many buyers who come from Mumbai are agents of dealers who have export licences,” says Kaleem Bhai. According to him many of the unlabeled products, which are bought are exported to Russia, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. If one traces the journey of the jeans, one may find that those that are made without labels in Gandhi Nagar may be available in the international market under the labels of the most-trusted brands of jeans.

There are certain contractors in the market who take up only the ‘finishing’ on contract. Finishing means checking, labeling and fixing the size tag. Mohammad Ummer is a finishing contractor–one who checks the entire jeans and packs it. Ummer is paid 65 to 70 paise per jeans for finishing. His job also includes pasting the size sticker on the jeans. His 6-year-old son also helps him do it. “My wife does not get time from household chores to help in my work,” says Ummer. He runs this finishing unit in the ground floor of his house for which he has to pay a rent of Rs 1,800. Besides rent, he has to pay for electricity and water — the total comes up to Rs 2,500. There are more than 4 manufacturers, who are Ummer’s regulars.

Shabbo has been working for the last one year under Ummer’s contract at a monthly salary of Rs 1,500. She checks the final product. “If the buttons are missing, we will have to fix those, cut hanging threads, if any, and even help in the packing,” says Shabbo. Her working hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a half-hour lunch break. Kusum, who comes from Loni, is also paid a sum of Rs 1,500 for doing the same job but since she is not a resident of Welcome or Jaffrabad and has to commute by bus, her work timing is only up to 6 p.m. “The labels and the size tag are given by the manufacturer,” says Ikra, another woman, who works with Ummer. Ikra, who works with the same contractor, gets Rs 1,200 because she has just joined and is in the learning stage.

Gaddiwala

Gaddiwalas are commission agents. Many major assignments for the manufacturers come through commission agents. Some agents who work in this area are Hanuman Trading Company, UP International Pvt. Ltd, etc. The commission agents get customers/buyers for the dealers. For every deal struck, the commission agent takes 3 per cent from the producer and 5 per cent from the buyer. “If the deal is struck through a Gaddiwala, then we need not worry about the transportation,” says Kaleem Bhai. “The agents take care of it. We have to just deliver the product in plastic cartons. The agent takes the transportation charges from the buyers,” he adds.

Price Fixing and Packing

A producer while fixing the price will have to consider many elements. The price of the cloth, production costs including labour charges, charges for washing, dyeing, labels, tags, finishing, packing, etc. “After calculating these charges we add 10 per cent to the price which will become the price of the product. This means when selling a product, the benefit for the producer is 10 per cent,” says Mohammed Sohaib of Rifa Garments.

Buyers come between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and then between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. The peak season is from August to February. During the summer, except for the retailers who do business in the local markets, buyers usually do not come.

 Packing is done after a thorough checking of the products. The jeans are sent to be ironed before they are packed. A packet in the wholesaler’s shop consists of 5 jeans of different sizes (32-40). The price for one such packet is Rs 550. If the demand is only for two sizes for example 38-40 the rate will be Rs 115 per pair.

The jeans are packed in polythene and then transported to the wholesalers shop either in goods-carrier auto rickshaws or cycle rickshaws. Since the roads in the galis of the market are very narrow, the cycle rickshaw is the most preferred vehicle for transporting the jeans.

Numerous Manufacturers: Competition Nil!

There are hundreds of jeans dealers in Gandhi Nagar market, but they live in mutual understanding without allowing themselves to get caught in destructive competition. “Competition exists, but it is only to see how one can improve the quality and sell it at the reduced rate without incurring a loss,” says Kaleem Bhai. “We study the market and make high-quality products. There is no back-stabbing among the manufacturers,” says Haji Shabdad.

The complete phase-out of the Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA) in 2005 under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) has put an end to qualitative restrictions. Indian exporters may find it a Herculean task to compete with China, which has been identified as the principal source for textile and garments.

However, the Gandhi Nagar merchants are not feeling threatened yet, especially about the domestic sector. “Our textile market is not facing severe competition from China,” says Dhanender Jain. “China is famous for synthetics, and in our climate people prefer cotton.”

According to the manufacturers, the government is not taking sufficient steps to improve the domestic sector. The significant transformation, which was supposed to have happened due to the quota-free opportunities, has not yet created any drastic change in the domestic garment segment. Neither has there been any focused government intervention in the domestic sector to match those in the export sector.

“Banks do not give funds or loans to start or expand garment production. If the trader requires funds he will have to take it from local financiers at the rate of 8 to 10 per cent interest. “Most of us would like to get out of this fragmented production pattern,” says Haji Shabdad. “But, in order to have the entire process under one roof, a huge investment is required,” says Kaleem Bhai. Banks still consider textile manufacturing as part of the unorganised sector and prefer not to take risks or vouch for the industry.

Gandhi Nagar, although is Asia’s biggest market, has not been declared a commercial centre. The government has not taken any initiative in making any infrastructural developments in the area. The locality where thousands of deals are made, does not even have a proper car parking facility. Besides these, there are no policies or schemes for this sector.

However, despite the absence of policies, the manufacturers in the Gandhi Nagar market are making profits. The unhesitating entry of newcomers itself is proof that the readymade garment manufacturing business is not suffering losses. On the other hand, whatever changes India’s industrial landscape may acquire, the workers’ working conditions—both in the formal sector mills or in the informal workshops are decided by the attitude of their direct employers, retailers and marketers.

Nothing in the Midst of Plenty

While the jeans lie smartly packed in polythene in the retail/wholesale garment showrooms, the hands that made them are still trying to survive the struggles and agonies of living and working in the Jhuggi jhopri clusters. The workers’ payments, even in peak season, are meagre. During the off-season, April to August, orders are rare (except for the buyers from the local markets in Delhi) so many of the workers do not earn anything. Sitting amidst the garment shops, they have to hunt for other options for survival. For example, Hira Devi, a widow, whose only source of income is from daga cutting gets no work during the off-season. “No one gives money to the poor,” she says. “The money during the season is not even enough to make ends meet. “This is our plight,” says Meena the tailor. To finish 350 jeans, Meena has to put in 15 days of hard work. “Tailoring is not an easy job. I quite often get pain in the lower abdomen and back. How can one even dream of saving money for the off-season?” she asks. The daga cutters, button sewers, packers and tailors, all have similar stories to narrate.

The plight of the workers is decided by the manufacturers and contractors. There are no hard and fast rules fixing the rates for the work done in different segments. It could be changed any time. “If the manufacturer or the contractor decides to pay Rs 5 instead of Rs 7 for tailoring, we will be forced to take up the job at that rate,” says Naresh, a tailor for a contractor. “If we don’t take it up, there are hundreds of others ready to take it up at lesser rates,” he adds.

The workers in other segments of the production process had discontent to express as well. As they see it, they are poor, and no one will stand up for their rights. There are no unions for the garment workers in the domestic sector. There are no self-help groups to support them. Except for some local organisations, such as the Garib Sahayata Society, which support the poor with small financial contributions if they are very ill or help them pay for their children’s weddings, no one else works for their upliftment. Rent, electricity, food, medicines…. the list of needs never ends. While girl children try to continue with their studies, the boys in the area drop out and wander around or assist their mothers in the work.

The employers can adopt any sourcing strategy and can change it any time. They can opt for new codes of conduct, based on the changing consumer moods, letting the workers bear the brunt of the changes.