India’s Luxury Blind Spot: Are We Ignoring Exploitation at Home?

The fashion world prides itself on immaculate surfaces—luxurious fabrics, sculpted silhouettes, and stories spun with heritage and heart. But last week, a shadow slipped across that gleaming façade. Loro Piana, the ultra-discreet Italian brand renowned for its rare cashmere, was placed under judicial administration by an Italian court for one year. The reason? Allegations of severe labour exploitation within its supply chain. Not a bad ad campaign. Not a PR misstep. But a systemic failure where the soul of luxury was sold out in backdoor workshops.

Investigations revealed that Loro Piana had subcontracted the production of its opulent, high-priced garments to companies that outsourced work to Chinese-run factories operating illegally on the outskirts of Milan. These weren’t just under-the-table operations; they were active sites of active human rights abuse. In these illicit facilities, workers, including undocumented migrants, were crammed into dormitories within the factories, forced to work up to 90 hours a week for as little as €4 an hour, often unpaid or underpaid. They were part of an unchecked system—one Loro Piana, as the court ruled, had  "culpably failed" to oversee.

These jackets—sold at €3,000–5,000 in stores—were produced for roughly €118-128 each and resold at massive markups. Meanwhile, labourers toiled without contracts, health protection, or dignity. Loro Piana claimed it severed ties with the supplier within 24 hours of learning the truth on 20 May. Yet the court emphasises that the system continued, despite prior industry accords meant to curb such exploitation. 

The irony is bitter. Luxury is built on the illusion of integrity: the idea that when you buy something costly, you’re also buying fairness, ethics, and authenticity. But scandals like these make clear that high price tags are no guarantee of high standards. In fact, the very structure of modern luxury—its dependence on vast, layered subcontracting chains, often hides the rot beneath.

While many such facades are being stripped away and the truth exposed brand by brand, it forces us at ELLE to turn the spotlight inward. What about India? 

While Europe grapples with the ugly truths unfolding in its back alleys, we must examine our own industry. What are we complicit in? And who, if anyone, is keeping a check on our own practices?

India is often referred to as the beating heart of global craftsmanship. Our artisans—spinners, weavers, dyers, and embroiderers—are the invisible backbone of many luxury brands, both Indian and international. Their work is exalted in fashion week show notes and immortalised in coffee table books. Yet for all the romanticism, there are few formal systems in place to ensure that these individuals are treated with dignity.

There’s no national board auditing luxury fashion houses for ethical labour practices. No standardised artisan wage chart. No database tracking how many hours go into a lehenga or how much of that price actually reaches the artisan’s pocket. Brands routinely market garments as ‘handmade’ or ‘crafted over 700 hours,’ but those numbers are often luxury bait. Rarely is there proof that those 700 hours were paid fairly or worked under humane conditions.

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Luxury commentator and influencer Rishija Mehrotra addresses this silence with piercing clarity:
“Luxury brands often highlight how many hours a piece took to make,” she says. “But who ensures those hours were fair, humane, and respectfully compensated? Until we ask those questions, empowerment remains an idea, not a practice.”

India remains disturbingly quiet on this front. When scandals erupt in Europe or the US, we react with rightful outrage. But we don’t apply the same scrutiny to our own luxury houses. Why aren’t we asking whether our artisans have contracts? Health insurance? Or even basic credit for their work?

“In India, crafts like weaving and embroidery have long been our pride,” Mehrotra continues. “But part of the silence comes from how artisans are still perceived. Many lack access to the global market, making it easier for the industry to underpay or undervalue them. However, the truth is that artisans are not behind us. They are the true originators of our fashion identity.”

That truth is uncomfortable. In the Indian luxury industry, power and profit still reside with the designer. The artisan’s name is rarely known. The karigar is rarely invited to the runway. Their rights remain negotiable. Their working conditions, undocumented. Their artistry, though endlessly celebrated, remains unprotected.

This is not to say no one is doing good work. Countless independent labels—often operating far from the spotlight—are building direct, respectful, and empowering relationships with artisans, giving them equity, visibility, and a voice. But these stories are rarely platformed in mainstream luxury discourse. Why? Because they lack the gloss, the drama, the celebrity faces. As Mehrotra puts it, “Some of the most genuine work for artisan welfare is being done quietly by lesser-known names. But we tend to equate scale with impact, which isn’t always true.”

And therein lies the challenge. If we continue to define luxury by how expensive or exclusive something is, rather than how ethically it is made, we will continue to feed an industry that knows how to dress up exploitation in the finest silks.

In the wake of the Loro Piana scandal, the message must be loud and clear: it’s time to ask better questions. It’s time for watchdogs. It’s time for transparency in supply chains—not just for foreign brands, but for every Indian luxury label too. It’s time to reimagine luxury—not as a fantasy built on faceless labour, but as a system that honours the hands behind it.

Unlike Italy, where courts intervene, India lacks comparable oversight. Meanwhile, consumer awareness remains shallow. Young luxury buyers must ask: Do I truly know the path from loom to label?

Mehrotra advises: “Ask yourself: Is this worth my money? Does it align with my values? Is the brand being transparent?” Until consumers demand answers, empowerment remains superficial.

She leaves us with this:
“True luxury cannot come at the cost of silent exploitation. It must begin with respect for the hands that create it. Until we change what we value, exploitation will always find a glamorous disguise.”

The allure of luxury will always be tempting. But if we don't choose to see what lies beneath it, we are just as complicit in letting that glitter blind us.

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