H is for ... Hank ... n ... Host

 

All this month I am writing about the beauty of Indian handlooms, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the elegant, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural heritage and political identity.

H is for Hurdles

...of which there are many that the handlooms face. 

Incidentally, Indian handlooms comprise a humongous range - from carpet and rugs woven in Kashmir to the humble checked 'Gamchha' (lit 'body-wipe') in Bengal and Odisha, often seen slung over working class men's shoulders as they go about their work in fields and towns. From the highly refined 'woven-wind' fabrics for the elite to the coarsest ones for humdrum, everyday needs,  employing a huge range of fibres - every possible ply in wool, silk, linen, cotton and jute as well as some manmade ones. Obviously, the range of challenges faced is also equally as broad - sourcing hanks of yarn to marketing the finished goods, there are a plethora of issues, and each regional handloom sector has its own particular set of challenges. These must be understood at the local levels and solutions must be fine tuned to suit individual regional/cluster requirements.

The latest Handloom Census conducted in 2019-20 highlights these broad issues :

1. The Central government budget allocations for the handloom sector has fluctuated in the last decade. The allocation dropped overall to INR 200 crores in 2022-23 from INR 493.50 crores in 2013-14. Less than halved!

2. The market is fragmented and procurement of raw materials - hanks to dyes to finishing products, is not always smooth or easy. Cost of fibre is of particular concern. Awareness of government support schemes is poor among most weavers. Delays in realisation of amounts is also an issue.

3. Credit, working capital, a whole host of financial issues. Some weavers get caught in a debt trap because banks do not consider them creditworthy so they are forced to borrow from unscrupulous loan sharks. (Read more here) 

4. Market access is a weakness, though some weavers are making use of online platforms to try and gain entry to newer markets. 

5. Erosion and/or loss of traditional skills. Handloom weaving skills have been passed on generationally for centuries. However, due to relatively poorer financial remuneration, the sons and daughters of traditional weaving communities are turning to other professions.

6. Competition from mass produced cheaper powerloom copies. The truth is that these will always be available at much lower price points than handlooms. Some attempts to protect handlooms have been made through the Handlooms Reservation Act 1985 and GI tags. 

7. Consumer awareness about the uniqueness and exclusivity of the handlooms is low. The generation that grew up with handlooms is dying, the newer generations are not fully aware of the heritage values or history.

Read more here and here. 

I'm hopeful though. Ethnic wear is enjoying a resurgence and Indian handlooms are being seen on Western as well as Indian catwalks. Large corporates have entered the handloom market, among them the Tata's with their brand Taneira. I'm particularly happy about that, because they entered the Indian watch and jewellery markets in the 90s and completely transformed the whole market ecosystem. What's not to say they won't do the same with handlooms? 

And here is a video that highlights the history of some key handlooms from various parts of India:

 

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Did you know that the Elephant (Hathi in Hindi/Bengali) is an Indian traditional motif in both woven, printed and embroidered textiles?  It is a symbol of strength with gentleness, grace, majesty, royalty, intelligence, long memory and worshipped as an earthly representation of Lord Ganesha of the Hindu pantheon. 

Image Source

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you if you are participating in the challenge. 

A-Z Challenge 2025 

F is for ... Fashion ... n ... Forward

 

All this month I am writing about the fabulousness of Indian textiles, a quick but captivating dive into the saree specifically, a garment worn by Indians for five millennia. Come with me into the elegant, complex and utterly fascinating world of fibre and yarn, of skills and techniques of dyeing and printing and embroidery, traditions unchanged for centuries. Of sumptuous finished fabrics that not only make a fashion statement, but also constitute our cultural and political identity.

F is for a Fresh take

Some time back, I had shared this news article on my FB wall, about Air India ditching their female air crew uniforms  - silk sarees worn with plain high neck blouses. An iconic outfit as far as brand value communications go. It generated furious debate  -  some people were sad/horrified that the flagship Indian carrier was moving away from the saree and others felt it was not a practical garment for long haul flights. Still others felt it wasn't contemporary enough, not exactly fashion forward, not the right image for modern India. 

Something I also hear often is that the use of the saree is declining among young, urban women. Many of the Millennials and early Gen Z girls/women do not know how to drape sarees and certainly don't see sarees as a convenient daily-wear or workwear option. Demand for sarees has declined in the cities, so that some manufacturers have diversified away from sarees to other forms of dress. 

Both these media reports made me wonder if the saree has lost its fanbase among Indian women? So I went to check if I could ferret out some actual data. This is what I found :

 1. A National Sample Survey Office study found that 80% of households across India purchased sarees. It was universally popular in the East and South, less so in the North East, North and North West. However, nowhere was the purchase of sarees nil.

Image credit

2.  A more recent analysis of the women's wear market by PwC indicates that Indian ethnic wear has a share of 74% by value, of which sarees have the lion's  share of 43%. This is not expected to change much in the next 5-10 years. (Read their full report here.)
   

Image credit

3. Younger women may not be wearing sarees everyday, but they are still a staple in religious festivals, wedding and occasional wear. Millennials and Gen Z are also finding newer ways to style the saree, e.g. with T-shirts, blazers, sneakers and boots, items their mothers never thought to pair with the garment. They are trying innovative ways to drape the sarees too (infinity drape, double drape, saree with trousers etc). Fusion sarees - combining the traditional saree with modern and/or Western design elements has created a whole new segment of Indo-Western wear popular with the younger generations. Instagram influencers and social media marketing is driving this experimentation. Read about how Gen Z is reinventing the saree.

4. Manufacturers have spotted the opportunities here too and have introduced pre-stitched, ready-to-wear sarees that do away with the perceived inconvenience of draping, pleating,  etc.  

5. Much of the textile sector in India has been what is called decentralised traditionally - individual weavers weaving the sarees which are then picked up by small/medium local retailers from middlemen who liaise between the weavers and sellers, a super fragmented market. But now big corporate houses, like the Tatas (Taneira), Aditya Birla Group and Reliance Industries have got into the handloom saree and ethnic women's wear. Taneira for instance has gone from 4 stores in 2018 to over 80 stores across India at present.

6. Due to the Covid lockdown, many traditional retailers moved to e-tail formats during the pandemic. Women have embraced this enthusiastically. The share of e-tail has grown from negligible to around 20% in the apparel, accessories and footwear categories in a few years E-tailers such as Amazon, Myntra, Tata Cliq and Flipkart have spearheaded this change in saree shopping habits. 

7. Meanwhile, the saree has gone global as well. Not just the diaspora is donning the garment, but Western haute couture houses have introduced saree inspired designs and Western celebrities are draping the saree.  Read more here and here. 

From all this, doesn't seem like we are quite finished with the saree yet. What do you think?

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Did you know that many of the typical floral motifs in Indian textiles originally came from Persia and became an integral part of  the local repertoire during the Mughal era? Because luxurious textiles were patronised majorly by the Mughals and Islam shunned the depiction of figures.

Thank you for reading. And happy A-Zing to you if you are participating in the challenge. 

A-Z Challenge 2025