Among them are 378 traditional designs, including a unique design woven on a traditional silk saree made as far back in 1902. These traditional designs were reintroduced because they were exquisite. “All these 378 designs have been contributed by weavers and connoisseurs. The century-old saree was given by one Chettiyar family,” says Vishwanath Shegaonkar, secretary, handlooms, handicrafts, textiles and khadi department. He told this newspaper that the designs have been introduced as part of an effort to improve the marketing strategy of over 1,103 handloom weavers cooperative societies across the state.
These computer-aided designs come in handy to make the products more attractive and thereby increase the sales, he added.
Moreover, this would ensure continuous work for weavers. The department gave upto Rs 2,000 for each design obtained from the people.
Asked to comment on the stagnation of products due to soaring prices of yarn in Erode and other parts of the state, Mr Shegaonkar said chief minister M. Karunanidhi had already written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the Centre to bring down the yarn prices.
“The Centre should ensure that cotton is made available for processing into yarn for the benefit of the weavers,” he said. Presently, 73 lakh cotton bales were required for the textile industry in the state per annum. But only 5.5 lakh bales were produced in the state and the remaining quantity was purchased through open markets from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
But for now the department was concentrating on value addition like introducing organic cotton shirts and aroma shirts with jasmine fragrance. The yarn for the organic cotton shirts is made from the cotton grown by the tribals of the Chitling Hills in Dharmapuri district. Cotton is cultivated in about 40 acres land without using chemical fertilisers or insecticides.
During 2007-08, the Cooptex has registered a retail sale of Rs 126.5 crore and earned a profit of Rs 5 crore.
Claiming that the government was taking steps to improve the sale of handloom products, Mr Shegaonkar said over 140 weavers societies across the state have been asked to produce export items as this would enable the weavers to get enhanced wages ranging between Rs 120 to Rs 200 per day.