THE HANDLOOM SECTOR

A great tradition in decline

ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR

The handloom sector is in tatters, but if the government extends its support other branches
of the textile industry receive, handlooms can transform themselves into engines of rural
revitalisation.

FOR an industry that clothed not just the country but the entire world for a thousand
years, it took less than a hundred years to end up in tatters. This is the story of India's
handloom industry, fragments of whose earliest creations were found in the
excavations of Mohenjodaro.
PICTURES: PANKAJ SEKHSARIA 

 
At Kayyalagudem in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, weavers at work,
producing double-width fabric.

According to a note, `Growth Prospects of the Cotton Handloom Industry in India in

the 21st Century', by Dastkar Andhra, a Hyderabad-based organisation that helps
preserve and sustain handlooms in Andhra Pradesh, Pliny, the Roman historian of the
1st century A.D., put the value of the annual cotton fabric trade between India and
Rome at a hundred million sesteres (equal then to Rs.15 million). He felt that India
was draining Rome of its gold.

Suleiman, an Arab trader who visited Kozhikode (Calicut) in 851 A.D., wrote in his
diary about the exquisite quality of Indian handlooms: "Garments are made in so
extraordinary a manner that nowhere else are the like to be seen. These garments are
woven to that degree of fineness that they may be drawn through a ring of middling
size".
Tome Pires, a Portuguese traveller of the 16th century, is said to have written in 1515
about the ships that sail from Gujarat and the Coromandel coast to Malacca: "The
ships carried goods worth eighty to ninety thousand cruzados, carrying cloth of thirty
different sorts."

Several block-printed and dyed fabrics from Gujarat, found in the tombs of Fostat in
Egypt, are proof that India exported cotton fabrics to Egypt in the early medieval
period. In the 13th century, Indian fabrics were bartered for spices from Indonesia.

Towards the end of the 17th century, the British East India Company exported Indian
fabrics to other countries. According to Francois Pyrard de Laval, a French traveller
of the 17th century, "the Indian cotton fabrics clothed everyone - from Cape of Good
Hope to China, man and woman, from head to foot". Before the introduction of
mechanised spinning in the early 19th century, all Indian cottons and silks were only
hand woven.

Preserved in museums around the world, including London's Victoria and Albert
Museum, are samples of Indian handmade fabrics, including that found in the ruins of
Mohenjodaro. But many expressions of this traditional skill - Sambalpuri of Orissa,
Jamdhani of West Bengal, Leheria of Gujarat, Paithan of Maharashtra, Ikkat of
Andhra Pradesh and the triple-ply silks of Kancheepuram (Tamil Nadu) - are vibrantly
alive today.
ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY 

 
In Hyderabad, saris and dupattas produced by Dastkar Andhra, an NGO
working with the handloom weavers, find a young American admirer. It is felt
that government policies focus on boosting exports rather than improving
domestic demand.
Though every State is home to a range of unique fabrics in hundreds of designs,
colours and textures, kept alive by over 13 million weaver families, Indian fabrics
constitute less than 2 per cent of the world textile trade. From despatching rich
varieties of cotton fabrics to the four corners of the globe, the country is now reduced
to supplying the cheapest "grey sheeting". Even this is competitive because of the low
wages paid to the weavers, who have demonstrated enormous resilience and sustained
the industry by squeezing themselves. Only, there seems no scope for the weavers to
squeeze themselves any further.

Is this the best that can be done for the once-famed cotton textile industry of this
country? "No," says Uzramma of Dastkar Andhra, who has been trying to preserve the
rich varieties of handlooms for over two decades. She adds: "Ours is the only major
household-based cotton textile industry in the world. We have millions of skilled
weavers capable of weaving and making looms and accessories. We grow our own
cotton and make our own yarn. Handloom is the most diversified, flexible and
decentralised and the least capital- and energy-requiring livelihood system in India."
These advantages can be the foundation of a large and sustainable textile industry that
has the potential to supply to the domestic and foreign markets without depending on
imports for knowledge, machinery or raw material.

Says Uzramma: "The main advantage is the availability of local markets for
handlooms." Many producer-regions, she says, are closely linked to their local
markets, and some like Chirala in Andhra Pradesh, supply to distant but specific
markets through complex trade and credit linkages. She argues that cotton handlooms
can be made to grow rapidly by leveraging the major assets. Only, there must be
policies to encourage and support the strengths of the industry.

The handloom industry is still the largest employer in the country after agriculture,
with over 13 million weaver families drawing sustenance from it, apart from the
loom- and reel-makers, dyers, warp-winders, sizers and other support specialists. The
industry is not confined to traditional weaving castes either. When handloom thrives
in a region, many non-weaving castes tend to take it up. For example, in Yemmiganur
mandal of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, after a natural calamity in the 1950s,
weaving was introduced to farmers as an income-generating activity. Today, weaving
is the main occupation of fishermen and toddy-tappers there.

According to Seemanthini Niranjan of Dastkar Andhra, apart from its size, the other
strengths of the handloom industry are its low overhead and capital needs, its variety
and regional specialisation, and its smooth skill-transfer mechanisms during times of
technology change. The main weakness of the industry is that the major institutions
providing inputs - credit, research, technology, management and market development
- are centralised and hence unable to reach the dispersed and largely home-based
industry.

At home, with a handloom, at Kayyalagudem. Household production can provide stable

livelihoods for a large number of weavers' families.

The domestic market for handloom cloth, Seemanthini argues, cuts across social and
economic strata of society and handloom is preferred both in urban and in rural areas.
This is reflected in the increase in handloom production over the years. According to
the Compendium of Textile Statistics 2000, published by the Office of the Textile
Commissioner, though the production of handloom cloth as a percentage of textile
production dropped from 24 per cent in 1980-81 to 20 per cent in 1999-2000, the
actual production went up from 3,109 million square metres to 7,352 million square
metres. And, during the same period, mill production fell from 36 per cent to 4 per
cent, from 4,533 million square metres to 1,714 million square metres.

Yet, the National Textile Policy, 2000, based on the Satyam Committee
recommendations, lays emphasis "on export-oriented production to carve a niche in
the international market". It also recommends the conversion of 50 per cent of the
handloom weavers, who produce plain, low-end products, to powerloom weaving.

According to Mohan Rao, president, Rashtriya Cheyneta Karmika Samakhya (the

largest independent weavers' organisation in Andhra Pradesh), the main problem of
the handloom sector stems from the fact that "government policies focus on exports
rather than improving domestic demand".

K. Srinivasulu, Reader in the Department of Political Science at Osmania University,

says that the flaw with the Satyam Committee report is primarily in "the way it looked
at the handloom industry - on the basis of the quality of cloth woven rather than the
production structure". Says Uzramma: "Most problems of the handloom industry arise
because the government refuses to understand the complex nature of the industry and
see the great potential of the sector."
According to B. Syamasundari, a Hyderabad-based independent researcher working
on handlooms, in the era of globalisation, when the market is flooded with textiles
from China and other countries, the regional specialisation of handlooms, of which the
list is endless, can be used to provide a well-defined product identity. For example,
the Mangalgiri-bordered fabric, which was the rage in the 1960s, is still much in
demand. Syamasundari argues that the identities of handloom fabrics must be
respected, protected and reinforced. She asks: "Why does the government stand by
and allow the intellectual property rights of handloom producers to be violated
through the large-scale duplication of handloom products by powerlooms?"

According to Uzramma, historically, specific regional products find niche markets

abroad. For example, the modern version of the real Madras handkerchief (a variant of
the traditional Andhra Pradesh telia rumal) has a large market in Nigeria as it
resembles the designs used in that country's ceremonial dress. Consequently, up to
early 1995, 15,000 looms in the Chirala area wove only this fabric, for the Nigerian
market. With an average output of three metres a day, 200 working days a year, and at
an ex-loom price of Rs.75 a metre, this works out to an annual production of nine
million metres, at Rs.67.5 crores. This is just one product, for just one niche market,
from just one mandal.

Uzramma is pained by the fact that no effort has been made to create information
flows between buyers and sellers. According to her, because of this the weavers do
not know for what the fabric is used, or how it goes from Chirala to Nigeria, and
whether the product is being copied by powerlooms. The lack of a free flow of
information has resulted in a fall in the number of looms that make real Madras
handkerchief in and around Chirala from 15,000 to about 2,000. According to Mohan
Rao, if the information gap is plugged, the potential of handlooms can be realised.

Seemanthini explodes the myth that handloom fabrics are more expensive to produce
than powerloom or mill fabrics. She argues that mill-made synthetic fabrics may be
sold at a fraction of the cost of cotton handlooms, but the hidden costs of mill
production, such as disease-causing pollution and the social cost of industrial
concentrations, need to be factored in when calculating costs. She further argues that
taking into account the power tariff, which is an important factor in the current
powerloom recession, handloom is a cost-effective mode of textile production,
primarily because of its low capital cost and the environmental and social advantages
of dispersed production.
  
The warping wheel, which lays 20 warps in the time it ordinarily takes to lay one.

POWERLOOMS have witnessed a lot of changes in production technology. As

newer, and more expensive technologies, mostly imported, are introduced in the
powerloom sector, the cost of its products will inevitably increase. On the other hand,
the fact that handlooms are family-based, and dispersed and employ low-energy
processes strengthens the sector.

Says Uzramma: "The variety and price range of cotton handlooms are amazing - from
the expensive fine fabrics worn by the elite and collected by international museums, to
household linen and home wear for the ordinary people." Between a towel at Rs.20 a
metre and a Chanderi, Jamdhani or Gadwal sari at over Rs.10,000, are the home wear
and household linen, used and worn by the middle class. The main advantages of
using cotton handloom fabrics for home wear are the softness of the texture, the
ability to absorb sweat and the fine drape.

While fabrics at either end of the spectrum are marketed well, those used by the large
majority of middle-class families are not. According to Uzramma, the main reason for
not tapping the urban middle-class market is that the entrepreneurs, either from the
traditional weaving families (for example, in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) or
from the textile trading families (as in West Bengal), have largely restricted their
focus to high-value fabrics that would give them high returns from relatively low
volumes. At the lower end, the low-count, ordinary, daily-wear cotton sari is much in
demand in the rural areas, and bedsheets, towels and lungis are sold through local
master weavers. Though the cooperatives supply local markets as well as urban users
with quality cotton fabrics at reasonable rates, the middle class largely remains
outside the marketing net. This market, says Uzramma, offers great potential that can
be exploited using the inherent strengths of the handloom industry.
She further argues that there is no reason why attractive designs and colours should be
confined to the elite market. On the contrary, it is possible and practical to have
diversity and specificity also in coarse fabrics at the lower end of the price spectrum.
More than complex weaves and fine fabrics, it is these simple fabrics that have good
potential in both domestic and foreign markets. Concentrating on these plain fabrics is
advantageous also because they are made by a large number of weavers and
production can easily be increased with no major infrastructure development. Though
these fabrics are now substituted by powerloom products and mill-made synthetics
because of their lower prices, there is certainly a preference for handloom products
because of their unique qualities. According to Seemanthini, most powerloom fabrics
are anyway passed off as handloom products, making a mockery of the Handloom
Reservation Act, 1950.

According to government officials in charge of implementing the Handloom

Reservation Act, the law cannot be implemented because of some technical jugglery
resorted to by mills and powerlooms. For example, though the ikkat (tie and dye)
fabric is reserved for handlooms, the mills can easily copy by using 45 per cent
blended fibres. According to Seemanthini, this loophole can be plugged by reserving
entire categories of products such as bordered saris, dhotis, lungis and towels for the
handloom sector. Instead of finding ways of plugging the loopholes in the Act, the
government suggests in its approach paper to the Tenth Plan: "As reservations are
uneconomical in the wake of liberalisation, they should be phased out."

 
At Mangalgiri, in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district, a weaver is at the loom,
while his wife prepares the next warp. Dispersed and family-based handlooms
that employ low-energy processes strengthen the handloom sector.

In this context, Uzramma says: "The State should encourage the formation of
producer-institutions on the lines of dairy cooperatives and self-help groups." These
independent groups, which can monitor the implementation of the Handloom
Reservation Act, can also develop a production base that will be responsive to market
preferences. The state can link up this production base to the market through new
marketing mechanisms.

This will also give an outlet to the infinite variety of designs that are now dependent
on the whims of the trade entrepreneur, who also controls market access, raw material
supply and finance. To make the best use of his investment, the entrepreneur restricts
the colours and designs to the fast selling items. `Designer' creations are restricted to
the niche market, while the `mass market' gets undifferentiated products. The role of
the designer in the production/marketing chain has to be re-defined to support, and
strengthen, the large and dispersed producer base.

Rosemary Crill, a senior curator in charge of the textiles collection in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, is concerned about the fall in demand for handlooms in India.
Speaking to this correspondent at the V&A Museum last year, she said: "Handlooms
can be revived and sustained in India by the government aggressively creating
markets for it within the country and providing design inputs for the weavers."

But the best of design would fail if the fabric is not of good quality, and this depends
on the yarn. The true potential of handloom weaving will be realised if its
decentralised mode can be supported by the dispersed production of cotton yarn. For
its primary raw material, the industry now depends on spinning mills that cater mainly
to machine spinning, and only incidentally to handlooms. The underlying assumption
is that there is no difference between the yarn needed for machine weaving and for
handlooms. "This is not true," says Syamasundari. The higher speed and warp
tensions of mechanical weaving need a strong yarn that can withstand the stress, while
the slower speed and gentler operation of handlooms need yarn with fewer twists,
which can be made on slow-speed, ring-frames at lower cost from local short-staple
cottons. Modern high-speed spinning mills need cotton varieties specially grown for
their staple length, to produce yarn with more twists necessary to withstand the strains
of mechanised weaving. The combination of the new hybrid cotton varieties and
mechanical processing destroys the distinct quality - the lustre, colour-holding
capacity, absorbency, softness and durability - that Indian cotton fabrics were once
famous for.

All government-sponsored research into cotton breeding since Independence has been
to produce yarn best suited to machine weaving. There is a need to develop some
varieties specific to handloom weaving. This, says Uzramma, can be done along with
the development of technology for local, small-scale processing for ginning, which
would eliminate the need for baling and blow-room processes, which are inevitable
for baled cotton. According to her, baling was necessary when cotton had to be
transported from India to Lancashire, U.K., but makes no sense now when cotton
cultivation and weaving are done in proximity to each other. The baling process
compresses fresh, clean, soft, naturally aligned cotton lint into a block as hard as
wood, which is brought back to its original form through the energy-intensive blow-
room and carding processes.

 
At a retail outlet. The domestic market for handloom cuts across social and
economic strata and urban and rural areas.

Unlike in cotton, technological improvements have taken place in handloom weaving.

In the 19th century, the fly-shuttle was introduced, replacing the traditional throw-
shuttle, and in the 20th century came the warping wheel that can lay 20 warps in the
time it ordinarily takes to lay one. Now, some weaving centres use roller beams on
which longer warps can be wound, and gears to ease the upward motion.

These technological improvements are manageable - in terms of cost and skill - by

weaving clusters, weaving organisations, and individual weavers. They also negate
the argument that the handloom is outdated and that weavers would be better off
without the drudgery of its operation. In fact, the technology of the loom has the
advantage of being affordable and accessible to large numbers of people who have no
other work option.

If with all these advantages, and so many families depending on it, the industry is
withering away, the government policy-making is also to blame. Seemanthini says the
government uses aggregate data to compare the handloom industry with mills and
powerlooms. Aggregate data do not reflect the diversity of handlooms - its diverse
forms of local organisation, production patterns, or types of product in each State,
region and district. Government policies have tended to establish and strengthen
institutions based on aggregates. As a result, these institutions are seriously flawed,
and have suppressed constructive initiatives attempted by primary producers
themselves.

Says Uzramma: "By looking only at these flawed institutions, we tend to picture
starvation and gloom." On the contrary, she says, there has been growth and
innovation both within and outside the cooperative handloom sector, and these offer
clues to the potential of the industry. Recently, some weaving centres such as
Pochampalli in Andhra Pradesh witnessed growth with the use of new technologies
and innovative marketing. According to Syamasundari, the role of the state in the new
dispensation should be to encourage and sustain the success stories and help primary
producers set up their own organisations, through easy access to credit and markets.
There is also a need for detailed, region-specific research. According to Rosemary
Crill, the government should not look at its policies as an exercise in supporting
handlooms. Instead, handloom production must be made more challenging and
interesting.

Says Uzramma: "The mistake the state has made is to look at the handloom industry
as a basket case in need of welfare, with state-commissioned reports harping on the
theme of the `power weaver' (powerlooms)." The condition of the handloom weavers
is pitiable, and the reasons for the marginalisation of the skilled production force of a
vibrant industry need to be probed. The primary producer in the handloom industry is
a great asset to the powerloom and mill segments of the textile industry, too, as all
branches of the textile industry have drawn labour from the skill banks of the weavers.
According to Uzramma, with a fraction of the support that the state extends to other
branches of the industry, handlooms can be transformed into an engine of rural
revitalisation.
New

Indian Textile Sector on Ventilator

By :   RK Rishikesh Sinha 
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Last year among all the sectors that were badly hit by the squeezing of the global vis-á-vis the Indian
economy, it was the textile sector. Its probable impact on the sector could be gauged from the fact that the
government had to send a Save-Our-Soul message to determine the impact of job loss in this sector,
followed with not one but two consecutive fiscal stimulus packages. 

Its irony that this has taken place on a sector that till July, 2008 was eulogized as a "Sunrise Sector", that
will engage 17.37 million people alone up to 2012. However, coming to the end of the year 2008 it started
showing the symptoms of a "Sunset" sector. 

The contribution of textile sector, according to the annual report 2007-08, is 14 per cent to industrial
production, 4 per cent to the GDP, and 17 per cent to the country's export earnings. 

The roller-coaster ride of the sector in the last fiscal came with the drastic erosion of its cost
competitiveness that Indian textiles exporters had enjoyed in the US, EU and Canada, and also in the
markets of U.A.E., Japan, Bangladesh and Turkey. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in this sector
in September saw 4.9 per cent, in October it went to a negative territory registering minus 7.1 per cent.
High input and transaction costs also bleed the sector profusely. 

The export basket that consists of items like cotton yarn and fabrics, man-made yarn and fabrics, wool
and silk fabrics, made-ups and variety of garments, the 'handicraft' export dips negative 2.46 %. In the
months April-May 2007 it was Rs.812.55 crore while it was Rs.833.05 crore in the same months in 2008.
Natural silk yarn, fabrics and made-ups also registered negative 16.31% growth from Rs.270.46 in April-
May 2007 to Rs.226.35 crore in the corresponding months in 2008. The export of textile based products
in the month July-September 2008 saw 30 to 35% dip. 

The negative growth of export in 'handicraft' is a matter of concern, especially for the  North Eastern
Region, since the area enjoys the highest concentration of handlooms in the country. According to 1995-
96 Handloom Census, out of 25.4 lakh units engaged in handloom activities, 14.6 lakh units (household
and non-house hold) are concentrated in Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and
Tripura. Of the 13.4% contribution in the commercial looms of the country from these states, the total
production of handloom fabric is merely 20%. 

When things have been going wrong in the domestic and international markets, the condition of textile
sector in the northeastern states is not away from anybody's guess. The sector in the region has been
marred with difficulties in the absorption of funds, which has been posed as a greater impediment in the
way of its growth. It includes delay in submission of proposals, non release of the States governments'
share in case of Centrally Sponsored Scheme and non-submission of utilization certificates, the absence of
infrastructure facilities and of credible Non Government Organisations are other problems that infest the
sector, hence the exports prospect originating from the region. 

The dip in the export prospects started happening at the time when the target set for the export of textile-
based product for the year 2007-08 was US$ 25.06 billion, while the actual exports performance touched
US$ 22 billion, as per the provisional figures. However, there has been an increase of US$ 2.3 billion
compared to the exports performance in the year 2006-07.

On the other hand, at the import front, it was not rosy, even. The import of raw jute declined minus 26%
from Rs.16.77 crore in April-May 2007 to Rs.12.41 crore in the same months in the year 2008.
Notwithstanding, investments in the sector was also badly hit; there was a 66% decline in investments in
the period April-August 2008-09, compared to 2005-06.

The textile sector which is the largest employer in the country with more than 3.5 crore workers, in
November came out with a disturbing figure that in 6 months, 7 lakh workers had lost their jobs in the
contraction of the global economy that had a cascading affect on the sector. And in the next 3 months, 12
lakh more jobs will be axed, the media reported. 

The ongoing eclipse in the sector all started from the beginning of the year 2007 when Indian rupee
steeply appreciated against the US dollar. Seems it was not the end of bad news for the sector, before
rupee started depreciating, the prices of the cotton skyrocketed into a new height, there was price increase
of over 40% in India within a period of less than 6 months ending September 2008. Exacerbating the
sector more, increase in interest rates with steep power cuts also played a pivotal role. Inflation touched
13-year high 12.01% in the week ending 26 July, and the repo rate 9 per cent.

If there was any good news that came for the Northeastern states, it came in November, with the
Government's approval of the Comprehensive Development Scheme as a Central Sector Plan Scheme
during the XI Five Year Plan. Under the scheme, Sibsagar in Assam, Varanasi and Moradabad
in Uttar Pradesh, and Narasapur in Andhra Pradesh, were allocated Rs.70.00 crore
each to meet the changing market demand both at domestic and international market and for technology
up-gradation. 

The first fiscal stimulus package declared by Government on December with slew of measures like 2%
interest rate subvention in pre-and post-shipment credit for textiles up to March 31, 2009; followed by
infusing Rs.1,100 crore to ensure full refund of Terminal Excise duty/CST, also failed to bail out the
shrinking sector. Other measures, the allocation of Rs.350 crore each for export incentive schemes and for
back-up guarantee for ECGC for exports to difficult markets/products; service tax refund on foreign agent
commissions of up to 10% of FOB value of exports, also botched to revive the sector. 
According to trade bodies, both the declared packages are negligible and insufficient compared to
competing countries like China and Pakistan. The two packages ignored the two-year moratorium period
demand for repayment of loans, enhancement of credit limit from three months to nine months, 2%
increase in the interest subvention for export credit, that the industry was hoping was not addressed. 

It has further stated that to protect the textile industry a clear cut guideline is essential for availing two
year moratorium for repayment of loans, lest it should become NPAs; along with it a special package for
working capital is also required to manage the abrupt increase in the minimum support price for cotton.
The handloom sector in India is fast acknowledging the importance of adopting innovative
tools and advanced production techniques to improve sales and boost revenues. Waking up
to the reality of rising competition in the global market, handloom weavers are increasingly
shifting their focus on implementation of product, design and market innovation strategies.
A number of handloom units in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir are opting
for novel manufacturing tools to enhance their production capacities and meet the market
demands.

Innovation has become the key focus area for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
engaged in the domestic handloom sector. This also holds true for small handloom units
engaged in the export business. These units are planning to increase their export volumes
in the international markets by resorting to smart strategy and innovative modes of
production. Small scale units are also formulating market innovation policy to develop new
product range that helps them counter tough competition from rival exporting nations like
China, Vietnam and Kenya. Handloom exporting units are paying more attention to offer
value-added handloom items at reasonable rates to make their products globally
competitive.

Realising the significance of adopting new production techniques and the need for a
proactive approach, the Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) of India is undertaking
a slew of measures to further promote innovation. It has identified a number of handloom
production clusters to be developed as Handloom Export Zones to augment the export
potential of theindustry. In addition, the council is taking a series of initiatives to upgrade its
infrastructure, modernise looms and hone the skill sets of handloom weavers.

Such measures are likely to help handloom weavers enhance their competitiveness and
improve their earning potential, thereby contributing to better standards of living.
Furthermore, smart marketing tools are being adopted to strengthen the global market for
handloom products. With such initiatives being undertaken by the government, councils and
associations across the country, the Indian handloom sector can now look forward to a
promising future.

(ArticlesBase SC #741421)
Traditional Ethnic Designs

By : Fiona Muller

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When it comes to buying ethnic clothes there are a wealth of patterns and techniques which produce
really amazing designs and prints that transform simple styles into colourful unique clothes.

This article talks about some of the block printing techniques that are used to produce the designs and
also describes where the designs come from.

Many of the prints that you see in stores today originate from the Jaipur region of India. This is
traditionally a region where textiles have been the main form of work for the people for hundreds of
years. Only now is this changing as companies outsource their industries to India and textiles have to
start to take a back seat in the rapid growth of the country.

There is however some companied who carry on the traditional ways of textile printing using techniques
that have been used for hundreds of years. In this article we will discuss several of the textile techniques
that are used in this area to produce the wonderful original dresses, skirts and jackets that you see in
high street stores.

Block printing has been a traditional way of adorning textiles for hundreds and hundreds of years. The
basic idea for this technique is that a block is produced out of wood to a traditional pattern. This is then
dipped in an ink and used to print a pattern all over a piece of fabric. The thing that makes this
technique unique is that depending on the amount of ink on the block the pattern will not be completely
uniform ensuring that every garment made from the piece of fabric will be completely individual in its
pattern.

One of the age old traditional block prints is called Sanganer. This print features a common repetition of
a flowering shrub called a Buta. The cloth was traditionally used for the turban, shoulder cloth and
kerchief. Another traditional print is produced in a village called Bagru which is a large village west of
Jaipur. The cloths produced here have previously predominantly been produced for the local community
but as demand in the west has increased for hand printed cloth their designs have been exported all
over the world. The prints are traditionally printed in a combination of red, black and indigo with
highlights in green and yellow. The villagers in Bagru also carry on the traditional prints of Jaipur- this is
because the city has expanded so quickly that the textile industry in the area is no longer. Quite often
block printing also involves some resist dyeing to accentuate the design and add additional shades to the
design. Mud is often used as a resist. This too is carried out in Bagru to great effect.

About the Author:

Fiona Muller is a trained textile designer and has written a textile thesaurus. She is interested in fashion
and how it can work for anyone regardless of age, size or race. For a range of garments that use
traditional hand block printing techniques go to -www.east.co.uk