‘Make in India’ reviving the indigenous fabrics

News:

• The ‘Make in India’ initiative is giving a new lease of life to some relatively-unknown varieties of indigenous fabrics.
• Fabrics like Ikkats and Uppada silk are being adopted and revived.
• Mumbai-based fashion designer Anita Dongre has made an initiative which takes craftsmanship to the cities from the rural areas so that unemployed residents of villages are not forced to migrate.
• The initiative is not limited to a single collection and will be built into a sustainable model for Anita Dongre-branded ensembles.
• Ritu Kumar, a fashion designer has been busy making a 21-sari special Banarasi collection with local weavers under the ‘Make in India’ banner.
• She has also taken up efforts to revive Odisha’s ikkat, a 12th century technique of dyeing and binding patterns into threads before the cloth is weaved.
• Kanishka, a Kolkata store reputed for contemporary hand-block printing and handloom weaving for over five decades, has also stepped out to work with looms in places such as Andhra Pradesh, where Uppada silks are made.
• It teaches weavers to add modern blends to the traditional craft to make them commercially more viable.
• The West Bengal Khadi & Village Industries Board has identified about 1,800 muslin weavers for a Rs.62-crore scheme to skill them and their families.
• An amount of Rs.5 crore has already been allotted in the current financial year. The money is used for skill development programmes administered through 172 weavers’ associations.

Source: ET