The handloom clusters in the state will soon get over about 700 contemporary and marketable designs for saris and home furnishings, so as to enable them overcome the competition and firmly establish themselves in the field.
The designs, being created under the Design Development Project, by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai, in association with Directorate of Handloom and Textiles, would be handed over to the handloom artisans at various clusters in Dindigul, Erode, Virudhnagar and Coimbatore.
The new designs would help the artisans to gain knowledge on the market requirement and bring out products to meet the changing demands. The cluster development programme aims at making the weavers’ groups more visible.
To ensure they become self-sustainable, the government has grouped 300 to 500 looms as handloom clusters and extends financial assistance to the tune of `60 lakh to each cluster over a period of three years.
Co-optex, too, for its part, will bring out new designs for sarees, home textile products, readymade shirts, Kurtha materials, Churidar etc in order to increase its retail sales.
Meanwhile, in an effort aimed to giving further impetus to the centrally sponsored mega handloom cluster at Virudhunagar, the state government has proposed to replace about 9,000 pedal looms with handlooms at a cost of Rs 30 crore to reduce the drudgery of the handloom weavers.
It has been proposed to supply CFL lamps to 23,500 handloom weavers covered under the scheme.
Totally, about 29,000 handloom weavers in 6 southern districts would benefit from this mega handloom cluster scheme.
