If you were on the internet anytime this month, you’d probably have heard about it. The much-hyped collaboration between Sabyasachi and H&M was launched globally. Unsurprisingly, it sold out within 5-10 minutes on every platform where it was available.

The preview triggered one of the most polarizing debates in the history of fashion collaborations.

Sabya: Generally beloved

Sabyasachi Mukherjee: the man behind the biggest luxury brand in India who is earning revenues of over 270 crores Indian Rupees annually. Despite a large demand for his designs, Sabya has always supported slow fashion. He was always the designer who chose to place quality over quantity. He preferred making 20 sarees that would remain in heritage rather than 500 poor quality sarees. Sabya has also initiated the revival of Indian crafts that were slowly dying out due to demand for faster fashion.

Today, Sabya employs over 2000 embroiders in 18 craft clusters in India. He is also the man behind the ‘Save the Saree’ initiative.

H&M Collaboration

While his luxury label has a massive following, the next step for the label was, “reaching out to the massive Sabyasachi tribe worldwide”. This meant making his designs more affordable and accessible. Hence, the collaboration with H&M enabled Sabyasachi’s team to take control of the design and embroidery. This was then digitized and manufactured by H&M.

The collaboration was nothing short of iconic. Almost every luxe Indian magazine dedicated its cover to showcase the collection with Sabya himself shooting all the covers. This kind of creative control given to a designer never happens. For the first time , a clothing tag would say ‘Designed in India’ instead of ‘Made in India’.

Accessibility of the Saree

Sabya’s pink saree does a great job of being capable of global adaptability. The piece doesn’t represent the richness of a typical Indian saree. However, this is because Indians are probably not the target market for this piece. 

The problem

Previously, buying a Sabyasachi item meant that you were probably contributing to the welfare of his karigars. In this transaction, however, most of the money is being pocketed by either H&M or Sabyasachi.

This borders on cultural appropriation and exploitation. Brands are taking a culture on a global scale and massively profiting from it. None of the people from the culture (the karigars) obtain the benefits or profits.

H&M is known for its massive carbon footprint and horrible working conditions. This is particularly disappointing since Sabya is a pioneer of slow fashion. His collaboration with probably one of the worst fast-fashion houses directly contradicts what he claims to endorse.

Sabyasachi x H&M: to be or not to be?