Their saris may be touted as ‘long-lasting’, but the sale of saris by Priyadarshini Handlooms, once a symbol of the State’s handloom weavers, is on a decline.
Faced with a crisis, the more than four-decade-old Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation (KHDC), which manages the brand, hopes that e-commerce sites will reignite interest in the dying name. The company has registered on the online e-commerce site, amazon.in , and sales began in the past week.
“We have listed 100 varieties of saris to the Amazon godowns, with the intention of sending as many as 500 varieties of saris soon,” says Ramachandra, MD, KHDC. The saris will be sold at prices ranging from ₹6,000 to ₹12,000. Based on the response, he plans to register with amazon.com, which allows access to an export market. It has been more than a decade since the KHDC exported their textiles.
The venture into e-commerce comes at a time when the KHDC’s retail business is waning. Out of their ₹150-crore turnover, barely ₹22 crore is from the Priyadarshini outlets. This is a drastic decline from the ₹40 crore retail sales seen in 2012–13. The rest are from government schemes where handloom weavers churn out school uniforms.
However, Mr. Ramachandra looks at the e-commerce venture as a way of reaching out to perhaps younger customers who prefer handwoven material. “Priyadarshini Handlooms saris may not have new designs, but there is a strong, nostalgic value and sense of quality. To strengthen this emotional connect between the brand and the weaver, we want to include a custom note with information about the weavers who have made the sari, their life stories, and the specialities of the sari. We want to drive home the point that since these are handwoven, no two designs are the same,” he said.
The objective of the KHDC, started in 1975, was to bring weavers out of the clutches of bonded labour. Large investments were made to organise weaver clusters across the State and by the 1980s, ‘Priyadarshini’ was a brand that occupied prime position among the salaried class. But as the private sector stepped in, power looms began to spread and preferences for designs changed. This pushed Priyadarshini’s traditional textiles to the edge. In 2017, they saw a 14% decline in turnover.
Second attempt
The foray into e-commerce is the second such attempt. In 2017, they made a low-key debut, selling just two saris before the attempt was scrapped. “It was a mess. We would process the order and send it only when we received payment. It would take weeks for one order to be delivered and even potential customers lost interest,” said an official.
Toll on weavers
The decline in the fortunes of KHDC has taken a toll on weavers, who form the backbone of the corporation. In 1975, over 1 lakh weavers were enrolled, and by 2010, it had halved to 50,000 weavers. The latest count puts the number at barely 8,000.
At Anekal, 41-year-old S. Chandrashekhar has seen the steady decline of this sector for the past 25 years since he took up weaving with the corporation. When he joined, there were at least 600 weavers. Now, there are barely 20. “We used to have continuous work, particularly during festival seasons. There were incentives and steady wages. Now, we get work for a week, and then have to wait for at least a month or more for the next batch of material. Even during festivals, we have no work,” he said.
The blame, he and other weavers believe, lies entirely with the KHDC. “It is run like a government department from the 1970s. There has been no attempt to change designs or know what new customers want. There is no incentive for salaried government officials, all of whom are nearing retirement, and sitting in showrooms to sell to customers. Shops have barely been renovated. Without sales, what do we produce?” said Mr. Chandrashekhar.
While there is hope with the e-commerce venture, a weaver says: “It is sustainable only if there is production and innovation. There has to be a revamp in the supply chain too, if the sector has to survive.”
