Imitation saris eat up looms of Bangalore

12 Dec '06

1 min read

Looms, which made rich silk saris and sustained thousands of Bangalore households once upon a time are dying out quickly.

Traditional weavers are resorting to other sources of income owing to rigorous competition from imitation silk saris.

Flood of art silk, blend silk, China silk and other types in markets, which bear strong resemblance to pure silk saris, has shattered the dreams of hundreds of weaver families who aspire to earn a decent livelihood.

Weavers are troubled to a large extent by dumping of blended saris manufactured in Surat and also by traders who pay them much less than the incurred costs.

Imitation saris cost only about Rs500 per piece compared to Rs2,500 for a genuine silk sari. Hundreds of weavers have sold their looms to counterparts in Tamil Nadu and taken to other businesses.

Bangalore had 8,308 handlooms as per a 1996 survey, which came down to 4,960 by 2005. In similar fashion, powerlooms declined from 58,887 to 42,030 in this period.

Causes for drastic fall of handloom industry are heavy production costs, insufficient markets and loss of interest among younger generation of weavers. Future for looms is uncertain with youngsters refraining from preserving weaving traditions and majority of weavers being old people.

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