By Kruti Buch
“Has your manager ever threatened to kill you if you did not finish the photocopying?” This was the question posed to me on Saturday. I did have to think about it for a minute but obviously the answer was no. My boss has never and would never even think about threatening to kill me for not doing anything (she may have thought it but that’s another story). As I was sat there thinking whether this person was really asking me this question or just joking, he began to tell me the story of a young girl named Roopa who had been murdered for exactly that. Roopa was a 17- year- old garment worker in India, who was burnt alive because she could not meet the ever increasing demands put on her.
This shocking story is what the young people of Leicester who have been involved in Asian Foundation for Philanthropy’s ethical fashion project, Naitika, have been learning about. A 3 year, UK-aid funded project, Naitika, explored the relationship young people have with fashion and the story behind our clothes. It’s people like Roopa who make our clothes across the world and in India. But how many of us actually know anything about garment workers and the journey our clothes make across the world? The answer is not many. But what we do know is that we buy more clothes than ever before – a staggering 30% more than 10 years ago. Why? Because we want clothes and we want them now. And that means that we are putting increasing amounts of pressure on young girls like Roopa (women make up 75% of all garment workers) to meet our demands. And when they can’t, it leads to sexual harassment, abuse and in many cases murder.
That why’s Saturday’s celebration of the young people involved in Naitika project and the showcasing of their work at Leicester New Walk museum was so important. Groups such as those from Rushey Mead Girl Group, Good Values Club, Oadby Youth Group, The Stop-Start Animation Group and Rajput Bhoiraj Gnati Youth Group all showed the audience the reality behind our increasing desire for the latest fashions. The final performances of the films, dramas and animation were amazing. Whether it was learning how to create an animation, film or drama performance, what was clear was how confident and professional each performance was. The hard work that each young person put into each project was evident in the high quality and depth of story in each piece.
Family and friends in the audience were amazed by just how much of an impact Naitika project had had on the young people. Not only had they learnt new skills but had learnt how to manage their time (many were studying for final GSCEs and AS-Levels at the time of being on the project and others were studying for their own exams), work as a team and put together a passionate and confident performance. So what was the impact on the young people? Well, as Sagar Chauhan of the animation group said “It’s changed my life. Before I was not sure what I wanted to study or what I wanted to do. But through the Naitika project, I decided to study fashion at university and am now on the first year of my course. My aim is to change the fashion industry from the inside.”
But it’s not just about the young people. Their message to us, the wider community was clear : we are all in in it together. As the Rushey Mead Girl Group said, “we need to consume less, do less and think for a minute”. It was a call to us all to change the way we consume. So how do we do that? We can re-fashion our clothes instead of buying new ones. We can buy vintage or from charity shops. And instead of just throwing our clothes in the bin, we can recycle them. That’s all they ask. They’re doing it, and it’s about time we did too.
Image Credit- Anna Colom and Blossom Carrasco
That why’s Saturday’s celebration of the young people involved in Naitika project and the showcasing of their work at Leicester New Walk museum was so important. Groups such as those from Rushey Mead Girl Group, Good Values Club, Oadby Youth Group, The Stop-Start Animation Group and Rajput Bhoiraj Gnati Youth Group all showed the audience the reality behind our increasing desire for the latest fashions. The final performances of the films, dramas and animation were amazing. Whether it was learning how to create an animation, film or drama performance, what was clear was how confident and professional each performance was. The hard work that each young person put into each project was evident in the high quality and depth of story in each piece.
Family and friends in the audience were amazed by just how much of an impact Naitika project had had on the young people. Not only had they learnt new skills but had learnt how to manage their time (many were studying for final GSCEs and AS-Levels at the time of being on the project and others were studying for their own exams), work as a team and put together a passionate and confident performance. So what was the impact on the young people? Well, as Sagar Chauhan of the animation group said “It’s changed my life. Before I was not sure what I wanted to study or what I wanted to do. But through the Naitika project, I decided to study fashion at university and am now on the first year of my course. My aim is to change the fashion industry from the inside.”
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