Delhi: Designer Threads & Hidden Workshops Tour

Delhi is where a great deal of your wardrobe was made

The city's garment trade runs from vast export units supplying European labels to single-room workshops with three sewing machines, and it is almost entirely invisible to visitors. This day goes into it with someone who works in it.

How it runs

A late-morning start over chai while your consultant works out what you actually want — sourcing, commissioning something made, buying finished pieces, or simply seeing how it is done.

The day is then built around that rather than a fixed route.

The workshops

Small studios where the work is hand done: chikankari shadow-work embroidery from Lucknow, zardozi metal-thread work that goes onto bridal wear, block printing, and hand-dyeing.

You watch the actual process, which changes what you are willing to pay for it — a hand-embroidered panel is weeks of one person's eyesight.

The fabric markets

Where the trade buys: raw silk, khadi, linen, brocade and handloom cotton by the metre, at wholesale rather than boutique prices. Your consultant knows which stalls sell what they say they sell.

Tailoring

Delhi tailors will cut and stitch to measure in two or three days, and this is the useful part for anyone with time in the city. You choose fabric, get measured, and collect before you leave.

Bring a photograph of what you want, or a garment that fits you well to copy — that works better than describing it.

The designers

Depending on the day, studios in Shahpur Jat, Hauz Khas or Lado Sarai — the courtyards where independent Indian designers actually work, most of them behind unmarked doors.

Two options

Four and a half hours, or a full day.

Practical

Private transport and a fashion consultant throughout.

Whatever you buy or commission is yours to pay for; nothing is included, and your consultant takes no commission from the workshops.