Balaramapuram handlooms on revival path

The Balaramapuram handloom industry is on a revival path. The Integrated Handloom Cluster Development Project (IHCDP), being implemented by the Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation (Hanveev) in association with the Directorate of Handloom and Textiles, has evoked a good response from the weavers.

Once plagued by a number of hassles such as exploitative middlemen, bleak marketing options and loss of skilled weavers to other remunerative jobs, the industry, under the Thiruvananthapuram cluster, has bagged many big orders.

PS Mani, cluster development executive, Thiruvananthapuram cluster, IHCDP, said orders from major textile houses such as Fab India and other prominent players had started coming to the Balaramapuram cluster. “The cluster has done away with middlemen as Hanveev directly procures the finished products of the looms. The units are always at work in the homes and backyards of the weavers.”

Hanveev pays the weavers in cash and yarn, which helps sustain the industry. Bulk orders like the ones from Fab India and those from schools for uniform material are channeled to weavers, assuring them of jobs throughout the year.

Pointing out that according to the IHCDP norms, Rs 2 crore is sanctioned for clusters for a project period of four years, Mani added the Thiruvananthapuram Cluster covers seven blocks in the district.

As many as 3,698 pit looms and 602 frame looms come under the cluster with master weavers, individual weavers, self-help groups and societies benefiting from the activities in terms of jobs and livelihood. The majority, 74 per cent, of the weavers are females.

According to R Vijayan, one of the master weavers in Balaramapuram: “Weavers create different varieties that hit the market as fast they are woven at the looms in and around Balaramapuram. We have never compromised on quality as the weavers treat what they do as an art, not just as a money-spinning job.”

A specially choreographed fashion show, which will be part of the Handloom Show 2008 beginning October 17, will exhibit products designed and created by the Thiruvananthapuram Cluster. The show is expected to lure the handloom textiles enthusiast towards the weavers’ creations.