Innovation and Trends in Handloom Sector

  V Rajeswari

India Handloom Brand is an initiative of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, for branding of high quality handloom products. The India Handloom Brand would be an endorsement of the high quality of the handloom products to which it is applied in terms of raw materials, processing, embellishments, weaving design and other quality parameters besides social and environmental compliances in their production for earning the trust of the customers. The revival of Indian weaves has truly become a popular movement. The Ikkat, Mekhla Chadar, Kalamkari and Banaras are weaves which have an undeniable charm of its own. Indian designers are using Handloom intelligently, and by wearing them one can truly carry forward the tradition of the ancient weaves. It revives old handloom weaving patterns and designs onto new wearable materials too. “It is essential that the younger generation celebrates the legacy of these weaves. And they will be able to do so only when they are exposed to that history,” “After agriculture, the handloom industry is the second largest employment provider for the rural population in India. However, if we look at designer-oriented handcrafted products, they form less than one per cent. Handloom textile products (as well as handicrafts), namely yardages, saris, dupattas, and stoles are aggregated directly from artisans. Textile revival is also helping empower weavers to make a sustainable livelihood, with weaver clusters, who are being trained to work with innovative material like hemp and banana fibres. But today, with the increased production capacity of the power looms that can produce even the most stunning fabrics, it's essential that the relevance of our own classical textiles be prompted out to the masses. Our intervention in the design end lies in reviving older designs and in experimenting with textiles. Some of our collections, for instance, feature a mix of silk and mercerised cotton, instead of just silk that is common to Banaras. We have also worked on linen saris in the Banaras weave, experimenting with yarn. “At the same time, most of our ideas are drawn from museums, and textile books. We don’t come from a design background. We stepped into the field purely by accident, after seeing the way the weavers were being treated. We have been learning the job, with the weavers.” We believe that handlooms will again come to the forefront, and wish to put in all their efforts which will benefit the rural populance and give visibility to the work of the skilled artisans. We proud to say that our designs in western wear made exclusively in handloom are not available anywhere in the country.

Keywords- Handloom, Customer, Awareness, Culture, Products

Unique Identification Number - IJEDR2001088
Page Number(s) - 466-469
Pubished in - Volume 8 | Issue 1 | March 2020
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -   
Publisher - IJEDR (ISSN - 2321-9939)

  V Rajeswari,   "Innovation and Trends in Handloom Sector", International Journal of Engineering Development and Research (IJEDR), ISSN:2321-9939, Volume.8, Issue 1, pp.466-469, March 2020, Available at :http://www.ijedr.org/papers/IJEDR2001088.pdf