: The State Department of Industries and Commerce is all set to breathe new life into the dying textile industry in the State and ‘Power Weave’ is a bold step towards this goal. The power woven fabrics from Kerala that are made at the four Power loom Industrial Cooperative Societies in the State will now be known under the brand name ‘Power Weave’, an initiative of Make in Kerala.
The brand, launched in Ernakulam a few weeks ago, is being introduced in Kozhikode through an exhibition-cum-sale that began at Jaya Auditorium in the city on Tuesday. Director of Handloom and Textiles, Government of Kerala Sam C.Itticheria, who inaugurated the exhibition, pointed out that the State had not been able to tap the potential of the vast market for power woven fabrics. He said power loom fabrics costing Rs.35,000 crore were sold in Kerala every year. Kerala contributed only Rs. 500 crore of fabrics in this while the rest came from Tamil Nadu or Gujarat. This situation has to change if the industry has to survive in the State, he said. Chairman of Calicut Integrated Power Loom Cooperative Society P.K. Mukundan; chairman of Wayanad Handloom Power Loom and Multipurpose Industrial Cooperative Society P.J. Antony; chairman on Neyyattinkara Taluk Integrated Powerloom Village Industrial Cooperative Society L. Gopi Krishnan; and General Manager of Texfed V. Dharmaraj; were present at the programme.
The brand is owned by Kerala Integrated Power Loom Cooperatives, an amalgamation of the Integrated Power Loom Cooperative Societies in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Kozhikode and Wayanad. Power Weave is a project of the Directorate of Handloom and Textiles and implemented by the Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Kannur, and Texfed.
The exhibition features a variety of textiles produced by the societies that include Jacquard sarees, printed sarees, shirtings, uniform clothes, lungies, dhothies, bedsheets, furnishings, towels and other textile items. It will conclude on December 31.
