Have you ever wondered who makes patterns for your clothes? What is a pattern and why is it important? The traditional Indian Khandaani Darzi system has been responsible for producing the most trusted and respected masterjis across generations. The legacy of the skill and value gets passed on to another man, women remain excluded from the power of decision making and livelihood. Women cannot even imagine themselves being masters or leaders, let alone have this basic skill.

The industry acknowledges roughly 1 pattern maker to every 300 stitchers. Women are confined to silai machines and estranged from the power to make their own decisions and use their creativity. It is so difficult to bring them to the pattern making tables. But when they do become pattern makers, they are not hired by the industry. Patterns are the basic building blocks of garments from which hundreds of thousands of garments are cut. 

Without any women pattern makers as role models, women have not been able to claim any dignified space at their place of work, in their homes, or even in their communities. The absence of livelihood or job opportunities discourages them from learning the skill. In the 21st century when we are emphasizing skilling women, this exclusion of women pattern makers gets inherited across generations. This leaves the 27 million women in India’s garment factories on the lowest rungs, without the imagination to break free, become equal or realise their creative potential. 

This is what inspired MasterG and Daughters. We want women to be trained as pattern makers, to realise their potential and get their rightful place in the industry. But we can only make a difference if employers come together with us and imagine a future with women pattern makers. 

Please sign our petition asking the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, garment factories, and various decision-makers of the apparel industry to commit to employing at least ONE pattern maker. We are willing to provide the support required to train and induct them. 

We are driven by the will to break out of existing societal patterns. With a democratised opportunity to work and earn a dignified living, we aspire to build generations of pattern makers. We can’t do it alone, we need your support and the promise of decision-makers to make our dream come true, to make the dream of hundreds of young women pattern makers come true. 

Your support gives us hope that in our generation the role of the patternmaker will be one of equal opportunity for men and women.