While Deonar is where fashion goes to die, Dharavi is where it is resurrected. Often mischaracterized as merely a "slum," Dharavi is actually a $1 billion decentralized industrial engine. It functions as a shadow atelier for the global fashion industry, processing the leather and plastics that often end up in high street and even luxury supply chains, usually scrubbed of their origins.
The Leather Economy: "Made in Italy" (Via Mumbai)
The Supply Chain "Wash": High-end brands rarely source directly from a Dharavi workshop due to compliance optics. Instead, they use a layered system:
1. Raw Material: Hides arrive from Chennai or Kolkata.
2. Dharavi Processing: In the "13th Compound" of Dharavi, thousands of artisans cure, tan, and stitch leather. They produce "white label" goods, handbags, jackets, and belts, for roughly; ₹2,000–₹3,000 ($25–$35).
3. The Mark-Up: These goods are sold to export houses (intermediaries). They are then shipped to Europe or the Middle East, finished with final hardware (zippers/logos), and tagged.
4. The Retail Reality: That same bag can retail for $150–$300 on a high street in London or specialized boutiques, often marketed as "hand-finished leather." The margin is often 400-500%.
Recently, a new wave of "ethical luxury" has emerged directly from Dharavi. Chamar Studio is a notable example. It reclaims the derogatory caste slur "Chamar" (traditionally used for leather workers) and turns it into a luxury brand, using recycled rubber and leather to create high-design bags. It proves that the design talent exists inside the slum, not just the labor.
The Plastic Economy: The "Buttons" on Your Shirt
In Dharavi’s plastic pelletizing workshops, the “poly-blend” crisis finds a partial solution.
The Sorting (The Human Eye): Unlike Western machines, Dharavi relies on human optical sorting. Workers can distinguish between PET, HDPE, and LDPE plastics by touch and sound. They sort by color; separating the "blues" from the "clears" to ensure the recycled pellets are pure.
The Process:
1. Grinding: Sorted plastic is fed into loud, homemade grinders that turn bottles and hangers into "flakes."
2. Pelletizing: These flakes are melted and extruded into long grey noodles, then chopped into "pellets."
3. Re-Entry: These pellets are sold to manufacturers who melt them down to create polyester yarn (for cheap fast fashion) or buttons.
Fact: There is a high probability that the buttons on a fast-fashion shirt you buy in the West were once a plastic bottle picked up by a waste worker in Mumbai.
The "Gentrification of Waste"
The biggest threat to this recycling ecosystem is the Adani-Dharavi Redevelopment Project (currently active as of late 2024/2025). For many residents, the project is a disruption to an economic system that has functioned for decades.
“Most of us do not want relocation,” said a community representative from Kumbharwada. “We never asked for a flat. We asked for basic amenities like water and sanitation.”
The Real Estate Play: The land Dharavi sits on is some of the most expensive in the world (adjacent to the Bandra-Kurla Complex business district). The redevelopment plan aims to bulldoze the workshops to build high-rise luxury apartments and offices.
The Displacement: The plan proposes relocating "ineligible" residents (those without paperwork prior to 2000) to "transit camps."
Some proposed relocation sites are on salt pans or near the Deonar Dumping Ground.
The Economic Impact: If you move a recycling workshop to a distant tower block, the economy collapses.
“Where will I dry these earthen pots?”, the potter asks a practical question.
By "cleaning up" the slum, the city risks destroying the only system that actually cleans up the city's waste.