JJ: What are your day-to-day tasks at Artistic Milliners?

Murtaza: My typical day starts on the factory floor. I always tend to communicate directly with the workers in my own, informal way just to get a feel of the culture. Demands, forecasts and product needs continually change so a lot of my time is spent problem solving and being reactive – I call it ‘firefighting’!

JJ: What does social responsibility mean to you?

Murtaza: Artistic Milliners is our family business. When I joined in 2008, I had just completed my higher education in Boston. Moving back to Karachi was quite an overwhelming experience, and one thing I remember from that time is our chairman, who is also my father, telling me that we have a responsibility to our people. As someone who is now in a managerial position, I know that we owe it to our employees to provide the best possible working conditions.

JJ: Artistic Milliners is also known for its work in gender equality. Can you tell us some more about your social responsibility practices, and your work to educate and empower women workers in particular?

Murtaza: Artistic Milliners is a Fair Trade Certified™ company, and we have SA8000® social accountability certification too. We have also been named a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pioneer for our progress in gender equality and decent work. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) did a case study on the number of women we have in our company in positions of leadership, because it is not something you see often in Asia, or in the textile industry. Six of the top ten leadership positions in our company are held by women, and I can safely say that a huge part of our success and healthy bottom line is a diverse workforce. We ensure this by offering programs like childcare in our facilities, and we are even working with JACK & JONES and HERproject™ to educate our women workers on health, financial inclusion and gender equality with a digital toolkit.