Design centre mooted for innovative handloom products
28 Dec '05
1 min read
The Union Textile Ministry has planned to setup the first handloom design centre in Chennai.
It will train the weavers to combine traditional skill with contemporary to innovate new designs, M Sivakkannan, Chairman, Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC),
Chennai will have the first design center linked to Karur via satellite. Karur exports handloom textiles goods of Rs1500 to 2000 crore worth to most of the European countries, US and Australia making it the appropriate place to link up with, he added.
If successful, it will be introduced to other towns such as, Panipet, Kannur (Kerala), Madurai, and Kekra (Uttar Pradesh) deemed as towns of export excellence, he added.
Sivakkannan said that Tamil Nadu has the potential to do well in the home furnishing area if it is provided with the requisite infrastructure.
Tamil Nadu's 2.11 lakh handloom units produced 1083.26 lakh metres of cloth valued at Rs559.72 crore in 2004-05. Sales increase in 2004-2005 was Rs121.97 crore, compared to the previous year.
The Textile Committee has been asked to develop a mark for handloom products and brand them on a national basis to stop duplication as this would help in exporting only quality handloom goods, he added.
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