“Handlooms have sustainable practices, by combining handlooms and fashion, we can take our Indian cultural heritage to the global platform”

: Mumbai, August 8, 2024

The country celebrated the 10th Handloom Day on Wednesday, August 7, 2024 – a day dedicated to the handloom weavers and workers – a community which is holding high the age-old traditional craftsmanship from across the country. The handloom sector of India employs 35 lakh persons directly or indirectly which is next only to the agricultural sector in the country. Swadeshi Movement which was launched on 7th August, 1905 had encouraged indigenous industries and in particular handloom weavers. Hence, the Government of India chose to commemorate the 7th of August every year as the National Handloom Day since 2015.

Over the years, we have seen that fashion industry has also championed handloom products and, thereby, made a way for the skills of traditional weavers to be displayed in the much-coveted ramps of high fashion and big designer labels. Hence, to understand the importance and position of handloom products in fashion world, PIB Mumbai spoke to NIFT Mumbai.
Prof Dr. Sharmila J. Dua, Director of NIFT Mumbai said, a lot of new upcoming designers are really interested in working with Indian handlooms. “They go to the craft clusters, sit with the weavers, handloom artisans and design fresh motifs, bring in fresh colours and that way, they are contemporising traditional handlooms for modern fashion”, she said. Dr. Sharmila J. Dua agrees that handlooms play a very important role in contemporary fashion. “In our country, almost every state has its different types of handlooms heritage. Very interesting and inspiring fashion ideas can come from it”, she opined. Many from NIFT alumni are engaged in creating fashion from handlooms under their own labels as well as other fashion outlets. Fashion designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Payal Jain and Sanjay Garg work a lot with handlooms, stated Prof Dua.

Handlooms stand for sustainable fashion

Dr. Kislaya Choudhary, professor and chairperson at the Dept. of Textile Design looks at handloom day as a true celebration of the cultural plurality of India. “Handlooms amongst textiles represent an economically important and culturally rich sector”, she stated. Dr. Choudhary also feels that handlooms can contribute to fashion in a big way. She also highlighted the significant environmental impact aspect of handloom industry. “Handlooms have sustainable practices, by combining handlooms and fashion, we can take our Indian cultural heritage at global platform”. That will bring us not only economic strength, but also a national pride, says the fashion educator.

“Handloom materials cause less harm to the environment”

Sayandeep Debnath, Assistant Professor in Textiles Design Department, looked at the history and evolution of the craft to evaluate the significance of handlooms in modern times. He said that handloom, that is, a loom that is used to weave fabrics making use of two sets of yarns in a traditional manner, has a long history in human race. Each and every region has its different raw materials in terms of textiles, be it silk, cotton or wool. In earlier days, people used their locally available raw materials, applied indigenous techniques, sourced own pigments from plant or animal sources to dye those materials and made the yarn by hand-spinning. Region-wise hand spinning techniques also differed, he added. Yarns could be finer, coarser and handlooms were used to insert each and every weft and weave a piece of fabric. Over the years, in different eras, different rulers and empires patronised different styles and art. So, with time, handlooms gained the status of a piece of art, rather than just a crafted piece of cloth. In those days, producing a fabric was a tedious job! After collecting the raw material, it had to be spun into a yarn and then made into a fabric, followed by colouring and embellishing. So, a piece of cloth which is well-made, well ornamented and well-decorated was a prized material for anyone back in those days. But, in today’s era of mechanized and fast fashion, clothes are manufactured in bulk and sold at competitive prices. That also leads to increased use of energy, water and synthesized raw materials. The young generation also do not like repeating fashion of these mass produced clothes. But this mechanized system, which produces more in quantity, is also creating a havoc on the environment. On the contrary, handloom products are made with patience. These products stand for the rich history and traditions of the local people. It takes intense hard work and patience to produce a material of original craftsmanship and also the use of original raw materials lead to its cost being more, he stated. However, these materials cost less harm to the environment.

He further said, hand-woven products made with natural raw materials will come in limited numbers. These are luxurious and therefore, cater to a niche market. They promote what can be called a slow fashion, that is, one prized piece of cloth is cherished for long and therefore has a long shelf-life.

Speaking about sustainable fashion, Shri Debnath said, in earlier times, people used to recycle old, worn out and torn clothes. That was a blessing for the environment. In this sense, handloom products will help us to reduce the load on the environment. On the other hand, by patronizing handloom products, we are keeping alive the traditions, knowledge, patience and love of hand-weavers’ community.

Dinesh Tapre, Associate Professor, NIFT Mumbai, said that the graduate fashion school students are made to interact with weavers and artisans. Interaction between NIFT students, artists and designers and traditional craftsmen is yielding interesting outcomes in terms of innovation, he remarked.
What can be done for upliftment of weavers? Engaging them with craft clusters, feels NIFT professors. Expos and exhibitions on handloom products in the country and abroad will also increase the market-reach of the weavers. They lauded the government’s efforts in this direction.

The Central Government’s policy line has been to develop a strong, competitive and vibrant handloom sector to provide sustainable employment to the handloom weavers particularly belonging to disadvantaged section of the Indian society and to ensure inclusive growth of the sector. The Ministry of Textiles organizes expos to focus on handloom and handicraft products and thereby create a market for these products. Further, there are dedicated organizations working for the sector like 29 Weavers’ Service Centre (WSCs) and 06 Indian Institutes of Handloom Technology (IIHTs) to provide technical support to the handloom sector. Agencies like State Directorates of Handlooms and Textiles, Handloom Export Promotion Council, National Handloom Development Corporation are also engaged for betterment of this sector. Their mandates include expansion of overall market through competitive pricing to increase domestic and international market share, brand building in global and domestic market, facilitation of marketing of handloom products, empowerment of weaver’s by organizing them under self-help groups, training, capacity building and enhanced entrepreneurial support, infusion of new and contemporary designs through design intervention as well as product diversification, R&D support, easy access to raw material at subsidized prices, enhancing capabilities including social security, better healthcare, life insurance, , work sheds and most significantly by ensuring easy credit flow at low interest rate.