Handloom has once again entered into the world market to spread its significance worldwide. With textiles of high quality standards, it is getting prepared for its victory journey. Maintaining its hundreds of years of culture, it is getting ready to spread its ancestry. With the help of state and central government, the Telugu states handloom weavers have proved their talents. Handloom art is maintaining its greatness by having its place in every event.
Total no of cooperative societies: Andhra Pradesh =1282
Telangana: 615
Handloom weavers: Andhra Pradesh: 2, 00,310
Telangana: 2, 40,533
No of dependents (approximately): Andhra Pradesh: 1, 58,902
Telangana: 2, 10,000
The youth of today are proving their talent in Handloom industry. The government is creating awareness to the handloom weavers on online business. The local businessmen are creating websites on their own and are promoting their products through Whatsapp and facebook and selling them.
Some of the handloom weavers are creating wonders in Sirisilla, a renowned place for Handloom skill. Record creator, Vijay Kumar has started preparing a saree depicting the importance of the state in the Telangana political map. Maggam weaver Veldi hariprasad used bamboo sticks to prepare a minute handloom maggam of just 10cm length and 200grams weight and gained applause.
Telangana chief minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao called the people to dress in handloom wears every Monday. Business and IT dignitaries are also responding accordingly as a responsibility. To promote handloom textiles, Telangana government has appointed cine actress Samantha as the ambassador.
Some of the countries importing Handloom from India:
America, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Newzealand, Canada, Malaysia, Sudan, Indonesia, Egypt and Dubai.
National and International Cine industry are assisting the Handloom sector. Cine costume designers are bringing great fame to Handloom.
With E-commerce Aid:
Ecommerce dignitary Amazon and flipkart have started placing handloom textiles for sale on greater amount. They are trying to know the taste of the consumers by placing wide variety of products online. Andhra pradesh government have created dealings with Amazon and flipkart. In some places even Reliance has put cotton clothes for sale online
Pochampalli
Handloom center: Pochampalli
Dist:Yadadri, Bhuvanagiri
No of Dependents earning livelihood: 3000
Importance: Sarees woven with silk thread using the method of tie and dye have earned the name as Ikkat and Double Ikkat in international market.
Pochampalli got patent in 2003. In making handloom textiles, pochampalli got recognition at the international level. Handloom weavers of pochampalli have received many awards for their talent. Ikkat design is used in making silk, cotton woven clothes, bedsheets, mats, money purses, hand bags, tie’s , handkerchiefs, laptops, and cell phone covers.
Recognizing their efforts, the central government gave the opportunity to add ‘India handloom brand’ and ‘Silkmark’ labels to their products. The first handloom park was established at kanumukulu , near to pochampalli costing 47 crores.
Recently the making of pochampalli sarees is shown as a movie in Mallesam.
Puttapaka Teliyaroomal
Fragrance spreading Teliyaroomal textile, gives warmness in winter season and coolness in summer. This is made in Narayanapuram mandal, puttapaka village. Using the materials and lotions gathered from nature the cotton is purified and colors are added to make special Ikkat and Double Ikkat designs on maggam. As the people began to like them, in a period of 2 years it gained popularity in several countries.
Gadwal
Handloom centre: Rajoli, Gadwal
District: Jogullamba Gadwala
Maggam Qty: 4 thousand
No of dependents earning livelihood: 16,000
Importance: Gadwal gained national wide recognition in handloom sarees. Woven with Benaras border, some part of the saree with cotton and the rest with the silk thread makes the saree special. The saree got patent in 2008. With the passage of time many changes took place in the saree. In the past the designs were done manually. At present computers are used in design making. 60% of sarees at present are of pitani. Women of Maharastra and Gujarat are buying them with much liking. Gadwal sarees have got great demand in key states of our country. Sico, silk turning,butta, broked type of sarees are being specially made with beautiful peacock designs.
Siddipeta Gollabama
Handloom centre: Siddipet
Dist: Siddipet
Maggam qty: 700
No of dependents earning livelihood: 545
Importance: Gollabama sarees makes us think about of Siddipet. Presently, the sarees are woven using special Jacard Maggam. They are made in different colors and designs. Gollabama pictures of different sizes and colors are beautifully designed in sarees border as well as in Duppatas. ‘Register of geographical indications’ in Chennai gave Gollabama saree special status. NRI women are buying them with great interest.
Giri Sarees:
Handloom centre: Venkatagiri
Dist:Nellore
Qty of Maggam: 2500
No of dependents earning livelihood: 11,000
Importance: When talked about venkatagiri sarees what we remember is the Jaree saree. Having the history of around 300 years the weaving of the saree with a very thin cotton thread is the specialty of the weavers here. At present Jamdani varieties are made using cotton thread and Jerry. Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka have great demand for these sarees. Till now 14 weavers have got recognition at the national level. 12 weavers have received national awards and 12 weavers have received Sant Kabir awards.
Uppada:
Handloom centre: U.Kothapalli
Dist: East Godavari Dist
Maggam Qty: 1000
No of dependents earning livelihood: 3000
Importance: U. Kothapalli mandal makes us remember about Uppada silk sarees. Jamdani uppada silk sarees have gained national level recognition. Here the handloom weavers prepare the sarees on their own using Maggam. Having got the patent right weavers of this region use pure jaree and silk to make the saree. The duration of making one saree is 20 to 50 days. Similar to design printing, the speciality of the sarees is that it appears the same on both the sides. Many of the people from cine industry, politicians, and industrialists come here to buy the sarees. Significant people coming from foreign countries buy these sarees compulsorily. 15 years ago there were only 6 shops. Now there are 300-350 shops. Everyday around 500 sarees are weaved, and the business is in lakhs. We cannot find such handloom weaving in any part of India. Even our prime minister Narendra Modi praised and released a postal cover at the national level.
Madhavaram
Handloom centre: Ontimitta, Siddavatam
Dist: Kadappa
Qty of Magga’s: 1200
No of dependents earning livelihood: 3,000
Importance: The Madhavaram sarees woven by weavers in Ontimitta and Siddavatam mandals have got great demand in the market. The weavers select the colors with interest and weave them on Maggam. Light weight, quality and durability have made the sarees to have great demand in the market. Keeping in view of the current taste, skill is added to make different shades. Madhavaram is famous for Madhuparkam clothes for newly wedded couple.
Ponduru Kadhi
Handloom centre: Ponduru
Dist: Prakasam
Qty of Magga’s: 80
No of dependents earning livelihood: 1100
Importance: Talking of khadi reminds of Ponduru Prakasam district. The textiles are weaved with high standards. Starting from separation of the cotton seeds...Rowing seeds to thread preparation, during all stages it is done using hand. Ponduru is famous for handloom sarees, dhotis and shirts. Adored by famous Personalities such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pratibha patil, Bill Clinton and Narendra Modi, this khadi is now available to the common public. The former President Pratibha patil got the Patnulu variety of saree specially prepared it for her. Under AFKK, khadi products are being sold in few departments.
Meti Kota komma
Handloom centre: Emmiganuru
Dist: Kurnool
Qty of Magga’s: 12,000
No of dependents earning livelihood: 18,000
Importance: Emmiganuru is famous for kota kommala sarees. The weavers have earned great name for weaving Silk sarees with minute thread .Kota kommallu, Elephant and peacock designs are weaved. These sarees have great demand in Telugu states. Master weavers are selling them in Bangalore and other areas, and are also exported to other foreign countries.
Padmasri Awardee Somappa, Machani somappa established handloom cooperative society in 1938 in the city of Emmiganuru. It rose to become one of the largest societies in the country. Known as the father of cooperative societies, somappa also received Padmasree award.
Dharmavaram
Handloom center: Dharmavaram
Dist: Ananthapuram
Qty of Maggam :20,000
No of dependents earning livelihood: 60,000
Importance: Dharmavaram sarees have got special place in southern states. The handloom weavers are talented enough to weave any variety on maggam. With the changing time, the weavers are progressing by learning new skills and getting trained accordingly. Previously it was required to travel to kanchi, Tamilnadu to buy a kanchi pattu saree. At present they are weaved with beautiful designs at Dharmavarm itself, and exported. It is estimated that monthly about 1 lakh sarees are weaved. It is known that Dharmavaram sarees are available in all the major silk sarees retail shops in the country.
Mangalagiri
Handloom center: Mangalagiri
No of dependents earning livelihood: 2000
At Guntur and Krishna border, in the region of Mangalagiri approximately there are 2000 handloom weavers. Silver Jaree sarees have got great demand. Dress materials and other textiles of this region are sent to north Indian states for designing and further for sale.
Kalamkari
Kalamkari, which gained world recognition has earned its name in two regions. Preparing handart using natural colors is the speciality of the region. Kalamakari clothes, Household decorative items, bags are prepared. They are getting ready in Krishna district using Block printing method and in chittor district Srikalahasthi using pen method. There is good response from the youth.