Tiny particles of dust.

Tiny particles of dust. Polyester fabric particles and cotton fibres brushed off lengths of material or shaken loose from heaps of garments.

Imagine a work environment inches deep in fabric dust – the air thick with fibres. Every time you take a breath, you’re inhaling more dust. Working from your home, or informal small workshops, every surface is covered. It’s inescapable – not just for you, but for everyone in your home – your new baby lying next to you, and your elderly mother-in-law sat in her chair.

Byssinosis is the medical term for the impact that inhaling fabric fibres has on human lungs. Historically, we’ve seen and studied it in the Global North – it was one of the biggest killers of mill workers during the Industrial revolution.

People who have byssinosis have typically been exposed to cotton or jute dust for an extended period and experience symptoms of chest tightness and coughing. – historically this was known as ‘Monday Fever’ among textile workers in 19th Century Britain because symptoms worsened as soon as work began on a Monday.

But there’s little equivalent information for the impact it has on modern textile workers. ‘Monday fever’ doesn’t apply when you have no set working hours, and are paid by the piece. Having outsourced the majority of fashion supply chains to the global south, here in the UK we see dust inhalation from making clothes as something from a bygone era.

For homeworkers like Suryia, in Tamil Nadu, it’s just seen as part of the job – a price they pay to support their families.

As informal workers, whose existence is denied by the fashion brands who order the clothes they make, homeworkers have no rights to health and safety equipment. They work from their homes, or small, informal factories or workshops nearby. Few wear masks, and cleaning up the vast quantities of fabric dust is an endless task, which takes away from time spent working and means even less pay.

Suryia took the photograph above of her friend, who works in an informal factory near her home.

“Sumathi is working in a factory where raw cotton is made into cotton ropes or bundles. It was hard for me to stay there while taking the photographs as the process creates a lot of dust, but Sumathi is seen going about her work without even wearing a mask."

This Christmas, we’re supporting homeworkers like Suryia and Sumathi to demand recognition as workers – so they can access basic health and safety protections like masks and clean working areas. With a fair rate of pay, the pressure to work at the cost of keeping the workspace safe would lessen - and with formal recognition, the provision of basic safety equipment would be part of agreed contracts. As Selavrani, another homeworker from Tamil Nadu, explains:

“If it’s a company in a factory, they clean daily. But since we are at home, we can’t clean daily as our focus is on turning around the work. We try and clean when there’s less work, but it’s hard to maintain. To clean the entire machine takes a full hour, which is hard when we have so many other priorities. We should wear masks, but since we don’t get given these and have to buy them, we often sneeze because of the dust particles.

Whilst we are working, if the dust gets attached to the piece we are working on, it will be rejected by the contractors and we don’t get paid for it. With cotton, you don’t get the fine dust but with polyester, it’s very fine dust and a lot of it. We breathe them into our lungs and it causes coughing. Every home worker and tailor is affected by this. We cannot complain to the company that it’s dusty, and we can’t work – it’s our work at home, and so it’s our responsibility.”

Homeworkers shouldn’t have to choose between earning a living and caring for their health. Donate today and support homeworkers like Sathya to fight for a better future.