From Waste to Runway: Bengaluru’s Women Waste Pickers Debut Circular Fashion Line

Women from Bengaluru’s waste-picking communities, engaged under Saamuhika Shakti - an H&M Foundation-initiated and funded multi-partner collaborative, including Sambhav Foundation, debuted a fully upcycled clothing line at Christ UniversityLiberal Arts Department’s annual production, Navarasa. The evening marked the official debut of a fully upcycled clothing line conceptualised by designer Anurag Jain, Founder, Daryaa, and brought to life by women trained at Sambhav Foundation’s Livelihood Resource Centres (LRCs). Students from Christ University walked the runway in the creations, while the artisans themselves closed the show, marking an important milestone and visible transition from informal waste work to recognised participation in the circular fashion value chain.

This showcase builds on a larger skilling effort led by Sambhav Foundation under the Saamuhika Shakti initiative. To date, more than 2000 individuals from waste picker households have been mobilised by the foundation, with nearly 1900 enrolled into structured skilling pathways across trades such as tailoring, beauty services, retail sales, and data entry operations. Of those enrolled, 81 percent come directly from waste-picking backgrounds, with a majority of them women. Within the tailoring vertical alone, candidates have fulfilled confirmed orders of over 7,200 garments, generating ₹6,01,371 in revenue for themselves, during a pilot order.  

“For years, we have worked with the waste picking community in Bengaluru, and what we have observed is extraordinary resilience even when excluded from formal value chains. The barrier they faced has never been capability. It has been access, visibility, and market linkage,” said Gayathri Vasudevan, Chief Impact Officer, Sambhav Foundation. “Circularity must go beyond materials to include the people who are already part of these value chains. Our work under Saamuhika Shakti has focused on building structured pathways, be it skilling and collectivisation to enterprise infrastructure and buyer confidence, so that participation in the circular economy translates into sustained mobile income, not short-term inclusion,” she added. 

Maria Bystedt, Program Director, H&M Foundation, added, “We are proud to see how the platform has matured over the years. It represents what becomes possible when skilling is not treated as a short-term intervention, but as part of a larger ecosystem that includes collectivisation, enterprise infrastructure, and buyer confidence. While the transformation has its economic side, it also reshaped the identity these individuals held. Today, they feel proud to be recognised as skilled producers contributing to a circular economy.”

The Navarasa collection builds on this skilling foundation. Inspired by the nine rasas - Shringara, Hasya, Karuna, Raudra, Veera, Bhayanaka, Bibhatsa, Adbhuta, and Shanta - the garments interpret emotion through silhouette, texture, and reclaimed textiles. Every piece was created using discarded or surplus materials, reinforcing the principle that waste can be transformed into value through skill, imagination, and collective effort.

Prerana Srimaal, Head - Liberal Arts, Christ University, said, “Navarasa is a curricular platform, not just a performance. It embodies our Curriculum-to-Community model by translating classroom learning into real-world engagement. Through this collaboration with Sambhav Foundation, sustainability and dignity of labour moved from theory to live practice. Universities must create spaces where inclusion is not discussed, but designed.”

The showcase at Navarasa was a milestone within a longer economic transition. For the women who created the collection, the runway represented how their journey has evolved from informal work to being able to participate in structured production, collective enterprise, and formal markets.

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About Sambhav Foundation:

Sambhav Foundation, founded in 2006, is a systems-led non-profit organisation that strengthens education, skilling, and livelihood ecosystems for underserved communities across India. Rather than running standalone training programmes, Sambhav works within defined geographies, or “clusters,” where it connects schools, skilling centres, enterprises, local governments, and industry partners to build durable pathways from learning to sustained income.

Over the past two decades, Sambhav has impacted 3.2 million lives across 20 states, trained more than  1.5 million individuals, and supported over 20,000 micro-entrepreneurs, 95 percent of whom are women-led. Its work spans digital and green skilling, manufacturing and services, disability inclusion, school transformation, and community infrastructure.

They combine inclusion by design, tech-enabled tracking systems, and long-term industry partnerships to move beyond short-term completion checklists and instead toward income stability, enterprise continuity, and workforce mobility. As it enters its third decade, Sambhav continues to strengthen local ecosystems so communities can sustain progress independently over time.