The context

The international garment manufacturing scene, like many other industries has undergone a radical change during the last two decades in order to cut down on costs and be competitive, this resulting in outsourcing practices to developing countries. Similarly, cost cutting measures have been initiated in developing countries to outsource to the informal sector, certain process of a garment through middle men who are responsible for the distribution of garments into individual households and the delivery of the same back into the factory. Today, a significant part of job work –stitching, hand embroidery, finishing processes - is done in homes under highly exploitative situations. The absence of labour standards in the informal and ‘invisible' part of the industry brings in an opportunity to freely out source work without the additional cost factor or social protection; however the flip side of this is that quality standards of industry have progressively declined as most cost cutting is done at the expense of the workers' safety and skill development.

During the last few years, there have been some efforts to change this. Reports about companies employing child labour and sweatshops have caused significant damage to otherwise established brands that are now in the pursuit of creating their own social compliance and labour standards in order to re-build and protect their images. Today, a vast number of labels and code of conduct policies have entered the markets, which work towards achieving these standards in their outsourcing companies (buyers). In practice however, it is almost impossible for buyers to monitor and control each manufacturer's employment practices, given the fact that a significant part of the production is out-sourced and dispersed into the informal sector.

MAYA ORGANIC & the Garments sector

The MAYA ORGANIC Garments Initiative, presently active in Bangalore Urban & Rural districts has encouraged women to shift from beedi and agarbathi rolling (highly hazardous forms of home based work, where there is a high incidence of girl child labour) and other forms of homebased work (stitching-embroidery) to embroidery work and stitching away from home and the community, where women meet and work under one roof, in a professional environment that encourages continuous learning and reflection not only about their work but also about their status in the family and society. This has entailed identifying linkages to the formal sector,(garment export houses that outsource to the informal sector for cost saving purposes). The women are supported to gradually organise as a group and manage their own collective enterprise – initially in the premises of MAYAORGANIC and later, in their own set up. Their work includes various forms of hand work such as bead work, chamki, aari work, crochet, knitting, fabric button making, etc.

Central to MAYA ORGANIC is a . This draws from a bottom-up approach where the compliance is evolved by the collectives themselves through a process that seeks to continuously improve labour standards and social protection, looking at developmental aspects beyond the workplace and towards the family and community. Over the last 8 months, this has supported MAYA ORGANIC to gradually make definite inroads into the highly competitive garments outsourcing setup. MAYA ORGANIC has become a key partner, ensuring social compliance demanded by international buyers abroad; this includes hand embroidery work produced here in South India for companies such as GAP, Mondial, H&M, etc.

MAYA ORGANIC garment initiative has also closely worked with professional and training designers to develop designs that use labour intensive techniques and are sensitive to the women's skills levels. Ongoing skill development processes is facilitated through the orders executed at an individual and group level. This periodic assessment in turn supports wage setting and has enabled an increasingly skilled membership in the worker-owned enterprises.

So far, through the garments initiative, 8 ORGANIC embroidery enterprises and 1 stitching unit have been formed across Bangalore City (South, 3 collectives) and Ramanagaram town (5 collectives), reaching out to a total of 160 women . Given this scale and reach, the collectives are able to meet the demands of garment export houses in and around Bangalore and also from other cities, particularly in the area of hand embroidery and other forms of hand work.

Existing capacity of the MAYA ORGANIC Garments Initiative, as of Sep 2004:

• 1000 working hours/ day for simple hand embroidery (approx. 25 different stitches),embellishment, chamki & beading, hand made buttons
• 700 working hours/ day for crochet work
• 500 working hours/day for more complex hand embroidery