Indian handloom has roots in Indus Valley culture. Indian textiles were sold to Rome, Egypt, and China as early as the ancient ages. Today, there is no style that you cannot get in handloom including cotton dresses, linen kaftans, printed kurtas, tissue dupattas and many more silhouettes.
In the past, practically every hamlet had its own weavers who created all the clothes the residents needed, such as sarees, dhotis, etc. There are specific centers for wool weaving in various cold-weather locations. But everything was made by hand, both spinning and weaving.
In the past, the entire process of creating fabric was independent. The weavers themselves or the agricultural labor community cleaned and processed the cotton/silk/wool that was obtained from the farmers, foresters, or shepherds. The method involved using small, practical tools, largely by women, including the well-known spinning wheel (also known as Charkha). The weavers eventually turned this hand-spun yarn into cloth on a handloom.
The History of Handloom
Under British control, India became a raw cotton exporter, and the nation was inundated with foreign yarn that was manufactured on an industrial scale. The British government used intimidation and threats of force to encourage the consumption of this yarn. In short, this led to the handloom weavers’ dependence on machine yarn and the utter loss of their means of subsistence for the spinners.
Yarn dealers and financiers were required when yarn had to be purchased because it came from a distance. And because the typical weaver had poor credit, middlemen increasingly gained control of the enterprise. As a result, the majority of weavers lost their freedom and began working on contracts or for pay for traders.
Even so, until the outbreak of World War 1, when foreign garments created by machines swamped the Indian market, the handloom industry in India managed to survive. When power looms first appeared in the 1920s, the merger of the mills and the high price of yarn produced an unfair level of competition that caused handloom use to fall.
The Resurgence of Handloom
For the past ten or so years, the pay for handloom weavers has been frozen.
Many weavers are giving up weaving and switching to unskilled labor jobs because they are unable to compete with cheaper poly-mixed materials. And a lot of people are now living in abject poverty. Similar to how a good painting may be a show-stopper in the age of digital photography, handlooms have recently lost some of their cultural relevance but have not yet completely lost their unique appeal in the textile industry. However, this charm does not result in a rise in the weavers’ socioeconomic standing.
The Charm of Handloom in the 21st Century
Because no two handloom fabrics are exactly the same, they are exquisite and unique. Of course, the result depends on the weaver’s skill level. However, even if we had two weavers with identical abilities to weave the same fabric, it would still be unique in some manner. Each fabric reflects the weaver’s emotions; when he is angry, the fabric will be a little tight, but when he is sad, the fabric will be lost. Each piece is so distinctive in and of itself.
There are various weaving styles in India, and sometimes even within the same location, there might be as many as 20 to 30 different weaving methods. From basic plain cotton kurtas to intricate art on muslin anarkalis, tribal themes, geometric patterned dresses, and tie-dye sarees, our weavers were accomplished artisans. Even now, no other nation can take pride in having such a diverse selection of fine textile work.
Every handloom saree is a work of art, just like paintings and photographs. Saying that the handloom must go because it is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than a power loom is akin to saying that 3D printers and graphic designs would render obsolete art, photography, and clay modeling.
