The dry plains of Gujarat are one of India’s largest cotton-growing areas. Drought often causes poor harvests here, and excessive yields cause the price of »white gold« to fall.

Many of the cotton pickers on the fields of Gujarat are migrant workers. Children, that were sold as slaves, are to be found again and again on the fields of Gujarat as their vage is lower than for an adult. A grown-up man often earns less than one USD a day.

Children work in a cotton processing mill in the rural town of Lakthar in Gujarat and keep the production lines unblocked.

A cotton worker unloads the dryed fabric from a production line. Many workers within the cotton processing and textile industry suffer from lung diseases and other physical challenges caused by the cotton dust or the chemicals that find use in the processes. Many of them are depressed by the lack of light in the dark and humid production plants and the social pressure of often being the only family member with a regular income.

During the high of Ahmedabad´s textile industry, mills grew everywhere within the existing city structures. The christian cemetary is a relict of colonial times - as the textile industry itself. Nowadays, slum areas grew around the mills and now host workers and their families.

A worker´s dirty handprint on bleached cotton threats, that will be warped into fabric in the next process.

A barefoot worker balances on a washing machine which will rinse bleach, dye and softening agents out of the cloth. Contact with these chemicals, and the lack of safety regulations, often leads to health problems or accidents.

A twelve-years old boy lines freshly dyed fabric for drying on a bamboo structure in a dyeing mill in Ahmedabad´s industrial district of Beherampura . Many of these fabrics will later find they way to Europe, Middle East and America as Bedsheets, tablecloths, curtains or simply shirts.

Working with chemical dyes and the resulting emissions is hazardous to the health. There are hardly any safety measures to prevent accidents, and there is no social insurance for illness or disability.

A dyer takes a sample from a container of freshly mixed dye with his finger. Many of the dyes and pigments used in the clothing industry come from Europe and are classified as extremely hazardous to the health.

In a large textile plant in Ahmedabad, a worker checks a freshly-dyed length of cloth as his foreman watches with a critical eye.

A model is being prepared for a fashion shooting of a local designer in her showroom in Ahmedabads posh Satelite Area.

Printer Vijay, 45, is proud of his work, which has supported and fed his family for 35 years. His joints are stiff, and the stream from the dye he is constantly exposed to have led to respiratory problems.

The monthly wage in a denim workshop is less than the retail price of a single pair of jeans abroad. Although working conditions have improved over the last few years, workers are still not paid fairly for their work.

In India, most companies have a limited budget for publicity. People turn to the Indian concept of »jugadh«, which can be translated as »improvisation due to lacking resources«.

A dog lazes in front of an advertisement for a clothing store in Ahmedabad’s trendy shopping district. The Indian market is very competitive, and advertising targets the middle class, who have purchasing power and like to act and dress in a Western way.

Paldi´s Dhobi Wallahs work in the ruins of what used to be their Ghat a few month before. Due to an urban development and slum rehabilitation project, 100000 families along the innercity riverbanks of the Sabarmati River where displaced, the whole infrastructure, as for exapmple the Dhobi Ghat, has been destroyed by officials. Yet, the Dhobi Wallahs have not been compensated.

Dhobi-wallah Rameshbhai lights a beedi, an Indian cigarette. Most of his skin is tanned by the sun, but his hands have turned nearly white from years of work with bleach.

Workers in a big denim production unit drudge double-shifts to increase their small salary. Often, they are the only ones in a family with a regular income. This social pressure combined with the lack of sunlight in the hot and humid plants often leads to mental diseases like depressions.

A Dhobi Wallah brushes the dirty laundry of his customers. Working in the highly polluted water causes numerous skin and joint diseases. In the background, a chimney of the close-by cremation hall reflects on the water surface

A Dhobi Wallah prepares to dry a bedsheet in the dust between the construction site and the ghat, as there´s hardly any space left due to a big slum rehabilitation project along the Sabamarti River Front.