Now Reading: India’s handloom sector needs a shift from preservation to aspiration
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India’s handloom sector needs a shift from preservation to aspiration
India’s handloom sector needs a shift from preservation to aspiration
India’s handloom sector supports more than 35 lakh weavers and allied workers across over 31 lakh households, with women making up nearly 70% of its workforce, The Hindu reports. It produces nearly…
The Story in Brief
India’s handloom sector supports more than 35 lakh weavers and allied workers across over 31 lakh households, with women making up nearly 70% of its workforce, The Hindu reports. It produces nearly 15% of India’s cloth while relying largely on manual technology, making it a major source of rural non-farm employment.
The sector faces falling returns, fragmented markets and an ageing workforce. Hundreds of lesser-known weaving traditions risk disappearing as younger workers leave and family-based skill transfer weakens. Government programmes are supporting skills, design, technology, branding and market access, while e-commerce and exports are helping artisan clusters reach wider audiences. The next policy goal, the article argues, should be to make handloom contemporary, premium and desirable to younger consumers.
The Indian Opinion
The lazy view that handloom is either a museum piece or an instant global luxury brand misses the harder task. Jobs, women’s incomes and cultural knowledge depend on reliable returns, not publicity alone. Designer collaborations and e-commerce can help, but they cannot replace fair prices, better market links and skills passed to younger workers. The real test is whether endangered weaves gain sustained buyers and whether artisan incomes rise, not how many celebrities wear them.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
