SHIHEZI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 22: (CHINA OUT) A farmer from Henan Province picks cotton in a cotton field on September 22, 2007 in Shihezi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. About one million farmer workers from surrounding provinces travelled to Xinjiang to pick cotton. Each farmer is expected to make at least 2,000 yuan (about US$ 266) for two months work from August to November in the cotton fields. Xinjiang's cotton production is estimated to reach 2.5 million tons this year which accounts for over 30 percent of the country's total output. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

From Fibers to Fashion Week

A look at the global supply chain behind the clothes currently strutting down New York’s runways.

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SHIHEZI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 22: (CHINA OUT) A farmer from Henan Province picks cotton in a cotton field on September 22, 2007 in Shihezi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. About one million farmer workers from surrounding provinces travelled to Xinjiang to pick cotton. Each farmer is expected to make at least 2,000 yuan (about US$ 266) for two months work from August to November in the cotton fields. Xinjiang's cotton production is estimated to reach 2.5 million tons this year which accounts for over 30 percent of the country's total output. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

The glitz and glamour of New York Fashion Week is a long way from the garment factories of Indonesia or the tanneries of Bangladesh.

But as models parade their way through the city this week wearing silk (Yves Saint Laurent), leather (Coach), and wool (Chanel), it’s worth remembering that these clothes have often traveled great distances and been touched by many hands on their journey to the runway. From Scottish weavers working out of their homes to women sewing in large factories in China, a globalized supply chain has become integral to the fashion world (with wildly varying wages and conditions for those who pick the cotton, dye the wool, and tan the leather that will eventually become hot new outfits).

Here, in the midst of fashion's biggest week of the year, Foreign Policy brings you a look at some of the people and places that may have helped produce the outfits currently making their way down the runway.

Above, a farmer from Henan province picks cotton in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Sept. 22, 2007.

China Photos/Getty Images
A Pakistani man shears a sheep for its wool by a roadside in Karachi on June 15, 2014. Wool from sheep are traditionally used as warm clothing and for use in blankets, carpeting, and insulation. AFP PHOTO/Rizwan TABASSUM (Photo credit should read RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Men shear a sheep on a curb in Karachi, Pakistan, June 15, 2014.

RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images
Pama, BURKINA FASO: (FILES) This file picture taken 22 January 2007 in Pama, central Burkina Faso, shows Burkinabese farmers packaging coton bolls. The price paid to farmers for a kilogramme of cotton felt to 145 FCFA (0,22 euros) for the 2007 season while it was 165 FCFA (0,32 euros) in 2006. AFP PHOTO / FILES / ISSOUF SANOGO TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY BOUREIMA HAMA (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

Farmers package cotton in Pama, central Burkina Faso, Jan. 22, 2007.

ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images
SHIHEZI, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 23: (CHINA OUT) A farmer transports cotton sacks at a cotton factory on September 23, 2007 in Shihezi of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. About one million farmer workers from surrounding provinces travelled to Xinjiang to pick cotton. Each farmer is expected to make at least 2,000 yuan (about US$ 266) for two months work from August to November in the cotton fields. Xinjiang's cotton production is estimated to reach 2.5 million tons this year which accounts for over 30 percent of the country's total output. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

A farmer transports cotton bales in China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Sept. 23, 2007

China Photos/Getty Images
To go with story 'Bangladesh-economy-environment-labour' by Kamrul Hasan Khan In this photograph taken on February 27, 2014 Bangladeshi labourers work in a tannery in Dhaka. Standing knee deep in toxic chemicals, Mokter Hossain loads animal hides into huge drums filled with still more dangerous liquids at a tannery in the Bangladesh capital. Hossain's tannery is one of 200 in Hazaribagh in Dhaka, where some 25,000 workers toil for as little as 50 dollars a month to produce leather for shoes and other goods for stores in Europe and the United States. AFP PHOTO/ Munir uz ZAMAN (Photo credit should read MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Men prepare hides in a tannery in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb. 27, 2014.

MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images
A Chinese woman works at a textile factory in Hefei, east China's Anhui province on April 11, 2011. China said it had posted its first quarterly trade deficit in seven years, despite a narrow surplus in March, as rising commodity prices pushed manufacturers' costs higher. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman oversees machines at a textile factory in Hefei, China, Apr. 11, 2011.

STR/AFP/Getty Images
LEWIS, SCOTLAND - MAY 13: Callum Macleod dying wool at the Harris Tweed Hebrides Company in Shawbost on May 13, 2014 in Stornoway, Scotland. Sales in one of Scotlands last cottage industries are soaring with Japan, Russia and Germany being some of the largest international importers of the cloth. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A man dyes wool at the Harris Tweed Hebrides company in Stornoway, Scotland, May 13, 2014.

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY MARINE LAOUCHEZ An employee of the French Sophie Hallette tulle and lace manufacturer works with a lace loom on April 23, 2013 at the company's factory in Caudry, northern France. AFP PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)

An employee at a French tulle and lace factory works at a loom in Caudry, northern France, Apr. 23, 2013.

PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
To go with Finance-economy-Bangladesh-trade-textile by Julie Clothier In a picture taken on July 27, 2009, Bangladeshi women work in a garment factory in Narsingdi. Most of Bangladesh's 4,200 garment factories, some of which come under fire from rights groups for shabby health and safety standards, are in cities like Dhaka or Chittagong, meaning workers have to move to urban areas for work. But British woman Samantha Morshed, who created the centre where Suria works and 31 other centres like it across Bangladesh, has a different vision for the country of 144 million people, 40 percent of whom live below the poverty line. AFP PHOTO/Munir uz ZAMAN (Photo credit should read MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Women work in a garment factory in Narsingdi, Bangladesh, July 27, 2009.

MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images
Myanmar labourers work at a garment factory on the outskirts of Yangon on September 27, 2012. Washington is to ease a ban on imports from Myanmar, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, lifting its last major trade embargo in a move swiftly welcomed in the former pariah state on September 27. AFP PHOTO/ Ye Aung Thu (Photo credit should read Ye Aung Thu/AFP/GettyImages)

Women sew at a garment factory on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, Sept. 27, 2012.

Ye Aung Thu/AFP/GettyImages
In this photograph taken on December 13, 2012, hundreds of employees of the Sritex textile and garment company sew military uniforms at the factory in Solo in Central Java province. Sritex, an Indonesian company and one of the largest textile makers in Southeast Asia, employs more than 15,000 people to manufacture military uniforms for some 27 countries, including Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Australia, Singapore, Brunei and NATO countries. AFP PHOTO / TARKO SUDIARNO (Photo credit should read Tarko SUDIARNO/AFP/Getty Images)

Hundreds of employees of the Sritex textile and garment company sew uniforms in Solo, Indonesia, Dec. 13, 2012.

Tarko SUDIARNO/AFP/Getty Images
KURASHIKI, JAPAN - FEBRUARY 25: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains nudity) A worker shaves creases into a pair of jeans at the Bitou denim processing facility in Kojima district on February 25, 2014 in Kurashiki, Japan. Kojima is a small seaside district in the west of Japan and is known as "Japan's Denim Mecca" with many of the world's finest jean brands being crafted from some of the 200 factories and firms operating from the city. Kojima's manufacturers have won acclaim from apparel brands in Japan and overseas due to their high level of craftsmanship and unique techniques. With many companies using older machines or handmade techniques to insure outstanding quality. Along with the many manufacturers the city also has a " Jean Street " which is home to over 20 retail stores, selling high-end clothing and jeans attracting many tourists and designers. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

A worker creases a pair of jeans at the Bitou denim processing facility in the Kojima district of Kurashiki, Japan, Feb. 25, 2014. Kojima, a small seaside district in western Japan, is known as "Japan's Denim Mecca."

Chris McGrath/Getty Images
This picture taken on May 12, 2015 shows a Chinese worker making jeans at a clothing factory in Shishi, east China's Fujian province. Retail sales growth in China fell to 10.0 percent in April, missing expectations and the lowest for nine years, while industrial output in the world's second-largest economy rose 5.9 percent in the same month, the National Bureau of Statistics said, while fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, expanded 12.0 percent in the first four months of the year. AFP PHOTO CHINA OUT (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

A worker folds jeans at a clothing factory in Shishi, China, May 12.

STR/AFP/Getty Images
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From Fibers to Fashion Week

A look at the global supply chain behind the clothes currently strutting down New York’s runways.