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The world over there is a growing demand for ethically produced, organic cotton fabrics dyed using natural ingredients. The Ponduru region has all the required skills and the potential for producing interesting fabrics that are handspun and handwoven. This could benefit the entire supply chain from the farmers to the spinners, dyers and weavers. The craftspeople would prefer to continue their ancestral profession if they are offered sustained work, instead of being forced to take up mindless labour.
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With a growing demand, a few enterprising master weavers like K. Krishna Rao in Ponduru have started using natural dyes. A well-known expert, Jagada Rajappa, who has conducted almost 300 workshops on natural dyes around the country and outside, was invited by Dastakar Andhra to conduct workshops for dyers of this region. K. Krishna Rao, who attended one of the workshops, is amongst the few who continue the practice. He follows the process meticulously so his fabrics are colour fast, and he works with a limited palate of red from alizarin, blue from indigo, yellow from pomegranate, brown from katechu and charcoal from iron filings. The jamdani patterned fabrics in natural dyes have become popular in the high-end retail market and he works against orders procured from retailers in the city.
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Earlier, apart from the extensive use of handwoven fabrics locally, there was strong support for the weavers from the state owned marketing societies such as APCO in Andhra and CO-OPTEX in Tamil Nadu. There has been negligible investment in design or product development on a sustained basis by marketing agencies, and this reflects in the repetitious patterns and deteriorating products, due to which handloom fabrics are slowly losing their market. There is an urgent need to revive the market, supported by design, promotion and new narratives to make handlooms an aspirational product. If a dynamic person with a clear vision were to head any of these marketing organisations, it could change things and the whole supply chain would benefit, which would help bring about an economic transformation of this region.
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The handloom sector has the potential of creating very large number of livelihoods for artisans within their geographical regions, saving people from forced migration to cities where jobs are hard to find and living conditions are brutal.
