Elle SUSTAINABILITY
Fashion with purpose
AT A GLANCE, CLOTH & CO. OFFERS QUIET LUXURY IN ELEVATED ESSENTIALS. BEHIND THE SEAMS, THERE ARE INCREDIBLE STORIES OF FEMALE ENDURANCE, EMPOWERMENT AND PRIDE
WORDS BY LUCIANNE TONTI
*SURNAME WITHHELD
In the workshop where Caroline Poiner and Daisy Burgess have the garments for their brand Cloth & Co. made, polyester is banned. The clothes, which are thoughtfully elevated basics, use high-quality natural fibres: organic cotton, hemp, linen, merino wool and cashmere. The workshop — in New Delhi — is special. Beyond banning the cheap materials often used by other Indian factories, it is a place where women are trained to be highly skilled garment makers, and it is a refuge.
At the Women Fiber to Fashion (WF2F) workshop, young women from marginalised backgrounds are given the tools to escape incredibly perilous, tragic situations. They recount incidents of forced labour where they are beaten with household objects, or suffer sexual abuse by family members who are often also the people in charge. According to a 2024 report from the US Department of State, there are millions of human trafficking victims in India and incidents of forced and bonded labour continue to be uncovered, including in spinning mills and garment factories.
“Earlier, I used to be afraid,” says Nisha,* a 26-year-old senior tailor sampler who came to WF2F in 2019 with no training, and is now one of the most skilled tailors at the unit. “Now I can stand in front of anybody and speak in front of anybody. Whatever dress it is I can make it.”