Ahead of the festive season, a special 15-day handloom expo kicked off on Saturday to woo fashion-conscious eves with a variety of eco-friendly handloom products including silk and cotton saris.
Stalls were put by weavers from 25 cooperative societies from different parts of the State at the Kapu Kalyana Mandapam, displaying eye-catching saris and dress material to draw the attention of different sections of people with products costing up to Rs. 40,000 per sari.
The saris on display, including those from the world famous Venkatagiri, Pochampally, Gadwal, Tadipatri, Chirala and Mangalagiri and some of them came with geographic indication (GI) registration. Unique Jamdani woven saris from Upadda were the cynosure of all eyes at the expo inaugurated by Prakasam district in-charge Collector M. Hari Jawaharlal along with All India Handloom Board member Sripathi Prakasam.
Showing an exquisite collection of saris to a group of women, a weaver from Venkatagiri, T. Madhav, said the government should produce silk yarn on its own and supply them to weavers at subsidised rates. “We go all the way to Karnataka to source silk yarn,” he added. “We have saris to suit the budget of every class of people,” said another weaver Srinivas showing a beautiful handloom sari priced at Rs. 1,500 to a group of women. He wanted the government to organise more such expos for them to save on marketing cost.