Mother Sapera: Rewriting the Rules of Fashion
The global fashion industry has long profited from exploitation, caste-based labor discrimination, and environmental destruction. Nowhere is this more evident than in India, where generations of caste oppressed communities have been excluded from wealth while multinational brands capitalize on their culture, craftsmanship and products.
Mother Sapera, an initiative by Kalbeliya Collective, is a livelihood and skill-building program designed to uplift Kalbeliya mothers and artisans who have historically been excluded from formal economic opportunities. Through hands-on training in artisanal craftsmanship, participants gain the skills, mentorship, and financial independence needed to sustain themselves and their families.
For centuries, low-caste and nomadic tribes like the Kalbeliya have been marginalized within India's economic and social structures (Singh, 2021). Despite their rich artistic heritage, many artisans face exploitative labor conditions, low wages, and limited access to global markets, while their craftsmanship is often appropriated by mainstream industries. Mother Sapera directly challenges this cycle of exclusion by ensuring that a percentage of every product sold from the Mother Sapera shop is reinvested into upskilling, community-led training, and long-term economic growth for Kalbeliya women.
Operating primarily in Pushkar, India, Kalbeliya Collective also challenges the Western-dominated fashion economy by pricing locally made garments at the same level as Western retailers—while ensuring that profits are directed back into the community, not external corporations. The initiative actively funds The Vikas Project, Budha’s Learning Project, and Mother Sapera creative livelihood programs, all of which focus on education, vocational training, and sustainable income generation for Kalbeliya artisans.
Through Mother Sapera, we are not just preserving a cultural legacy—we are actively reshaping economic systems to center indigenous artisans, prioritize ethical trade, and create a more just and liberated future.
Understanding Caste-Based Exploitation in the Fashion Industry
India’s textile industry is built on a deeply ingrained caste hierarchy—a system of social stratification that has determined labor roles for thousands of years. At the bottom of this structure are the Dalits (formerly called "untouchables") and nomadic tribal communities like the Kalbeliya, who have been systematically denied access to stable employment, land ownership, and economic opportunity.
Despite India being a global leader in textile production, caste-oppressed artisans remain trapped in informal, unregulated work—while higher-caste business owners and multinational corporations extract immense wealth from their labor. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), up to 75% of India's garment workers are informal laborers with no fixed wages, benefits, or protections (ILO, 2021).
Pushkar, a major tourist and trading hub, exemplifies this injustice. The city’s vibrant clothing market caters primarily to Western tourists and export businesses, with bulk manufacturing operations producing garments at a fraction of their final retail price. Yet, the artisans and workers responsible for these creations see none of the profits.
A System Built for Western Profit—At Any Cost
India produces nearly 15% of the world’s textiles, yet less than 2% of the retail price of a garment sold in the West reaches the worker who made it (Clean Clothes Campaign, 2022). This is the foundation of fast fashion exploitation:
A $10 dress sold in a Western retailer may cost just $1 to manufacture in India, with workers earning only a few cents per garment.
Luxury fashion brands also capitalize on this system, outsourcing high-quality embroidery and tailoring to Indian artisans while selling these products for thousands of dollars abroad.
When Western consumers discard these clothes, millions of tons of textile waste are shipped back to India, poisoning local environments with dyes, microplastics, and synthetic fibers (Niinimäki et al., 2020).
This exploitative cycle keeps wealth concentrated in the West while leaving Indian artisans trapped in generational poverty and environmental devastation.
Mother Sapera: A Business Model That Reclaims Wealth and Dignity
Mother Sapera flips this model upside down.
We Create garments in collaboration with crafting small factories in Pushkar—the same ones that supply Western retailers—but sell them at Western prices, ensuring that the profits go directly back into Kalbeliya-led textile production, carpet weaving, and jewelry making.
By doing so, we are redirecting wealth into a historically marginalized community, creating sustainable income streams, and breaking barriers that have prevented caste-oppressed artisans from accessing stable work.
Our approach does not rely on charity but on economic justice—ensuring that Kalbeliya artisans are paid fairly for their work and are no longer excluded from industries that have long profited from their skills.
Fighting Back Against Fashion Waste
The Western fashion industry’s exploitation of India extends beyond labor—it also treats the country as a dumping ground. When garments are no longer trendy, they are shipped back to India and neighboring countries in massive quantities, overwhelming waste systems and polluting rivers, soil, and air.
The UN estimates that 92 million tons of textile waste are generated globally each year, much of it dumped in the Global South (United Nations Environment Programme, 2021).
Synthetic fibers from discarded fast fashion garments release microplastics into waterways, poisoning drinking water and marine ecosystems.
In places like Panipat, India—known as the "world’s textile recycling capital"—Western waste is burned to make cheap blankets, releasing toxic fumes that cause severe health conditions among workers and local communities.
Mother Sapera actively resists this model by ensuring that every piece of clothing we sell is part of a circular economy—where wealth and resources stay within the Kalbeliya community, rather than being extracted and discarded by the West.
A New Standard for Ethical Fashion
The Western-dominated fashion industry has spent decades extracting wealth from Indian artisans while denying them access to stable employment, fair wages, and economic mobility.
Mother Sapera is here to change that.
By selling garments at Western market prices but redirecting profits into Kalbeliya-led craftsmanship and infrastructure, we are not just building a business—we are creating a movement.
This is not about charity.
This is not about token representation.
This is about justice, ownership, and the rightful redistribution of wealth.
Mother Sapera is leading the way toward a future where fashion serves the people who create it—not just those who profit from it.
References:
Clean Clothes Campaign. (2022). Wages in the garment industry: The truth behind the price tag. Retrieved from https://cleanclothes.org
International Labour Organization. (2021). The Future of Work in Textiles, Clothing, Leather, and Footwear. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org
Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., & Gwilt, A. (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), 189–200. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-0039-9
United Nations Environment Programme. (2021). The state of global textile waste. Retrieved from https://www.unep.org
