Revathy (33) at Dindigul is weaver for the last 10 years. She takes two days to weave a 6.2 m sari moving her hands and legs 19,600 times.
Customers who buy a hand-woven sari at Co-optex can know the weaver’s name and experience from a tag attached to the sari. There are tags that certify if a product is hand-woven, is made of pure silk, or is organic. More retailers are having space and a wider product range at the outlets for hand-woven, organic, traditional textile products and are educating customers on these. Buyers are becoming more aware of the workmanship of handloom textiles. For them, it is an exclusive product. “Handlooms are always in demand. We recently introduced organic saris for which the yarn is spun from organically cultivated cotton. Vegetable and fruit dyes are used to add colour to the saris,” says Natrajan, manager of Co-optex.