A Letter from India

UW Director and Designer David Keyte is currently in Delhi visiting the factory we work with in India and picking fabrics for future seasons. He wanted to share his thoughts from today…
 

We work with a very ethical and honest family owned factory in India.
 
They pay above standard salaries and adhere to international recognised management and social policies, many of the staff I think of as friends, I visit them as often as I visit factories and makers in England and Portugal.
 
I am happy and proud to work with them here in India, we work here for the skill and talent they bring and for the great fabrics we make here, fabric we could not make anywhere else.
 
But in days when I visit the fabric showrooms in central Delhi I meet a different India sometimes.
 
I met a young boy who was said to be 14, but I think he was much younger, he wanted 2 rupees (£0.025) to clean my shoes, I was wearing Teva sandals!
 
I gave him a few more rupees than he asked for of course, how could I not, more money just for the photo, he was happy for the money less so for the photo.
 
Can't say I blame him, he did not want to a be tourist attraction, maybe he'd prefer to be a school kid, but then maybe his family need the few rupees he earns every day.
 
India has 1.2 billion people 250 million on smartphones in Starbucks ordering Adidas online, but many are not catching up just yet.
 
- DK