KOLKATA: Following the footsteps of the Centre''s Make in India drive,
many states have started promoting their traditional and indigenous textiles on
national and international platforms.With hefty budgetary allocations for the
promotion of traditional textiles, states like West Bengal, Manipur, Assam, Telengana and Madhya Pradesh are concentrating on developing state-owned brands. They are also tying
up with fashion designers to enhance the commercial viability of the products.
State-run
initiatives are bringing fabrics like Pochompally, Baluchari, Narayanpet, Kutch
Kala Cotton and Muga to the limelight, with many state governments assigning a
day in the week as handloom day. On such days, state government employees are
advised to wear handloom outfits to work. Telangana, for instance, has their
government employees sporting handloom wear on Mondays every week.
Handlooms
from Telengana, like the Pochompally, Garwal, Narayanpet, Siddhipet and
Gollabhama are getting modern touches under the mentorship of designers like
Rahul Mishra and Chelna Desai.The fabrics are also fetching attention through
corporate tie-ups with brands.With Rs 325 crore allocated for the
promotion of handlooms in the Telangana state budget, the state is taking up
aggressive research and development and also looking at organising fashion
shows to promote the fabrics,“ said Damoder Seetha, director at the Pochompally
Handloom Park, Telangana.
Besides
planning to develop a state-owned brand of Telangana handlooms, the state has
also roped in South Indian actress Samantha as the brand ambassador handloom
promotions.In Andhra Pradesh too, government officers have been urged to
wear handlooms on Mondays. Students too have been urged to wear handlooms, and
some schools may soon have handloom uniforms made by weavers. The state is also
concentrating on the development of weavers and the Andhra Pradesh Handloom
Weavers'' Cooperative Society (APCO), is concentrating on increasing their
e-commerce business through APCO''s website.
“It is
only through the welfare of the weavers that the handlooms can be revived and
brought to the limelight.Under a recent partnership of Snapdeal and the
University of California, Berkeley and Andhra Pradesh government, Snapdeal will
provide local handloom weavers direct market access to buyers across the
country, through its platform,“ said Johar Basha, MD, Society for Welfare of
Weavers in Andhra Pradesh.In West Bengal, a lot of commercialization of
state handlooms is on the cards. While the state already runs two brands, Biswa
Bangla and Club Muslin, it has also come up with a new Baluchari dedicated to
reviving of the fabric under the mentorship of designer Abhishek Dutta.
Source: EtRetail.Com, India Friday, 28 April 2017