Dayanand Shetty, Actor, in presence of RM Parmar, Dy Director, Weavers Service Centre, inaugurated the first home of India Handloom branded products at Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Limited (CCIC), DN Road, Fort, Mumbai. The first “India Handloom Brand†showroom was launched in Delhi in March 2016. Cottage has joined hands with the Office of Development Commissioner (Handloom) towards promoting and marketing the India Handloom branded products by which customer will get authentic and good quality products drawn from some of the exotic locations of India, which will be on display and sale at its flagship showroom at CCIC. The products range from sarees: Mangalagiri, Venkatagiri, Balrampuram, Maheshwari, Kota Doria, Pochampalli, Banaras Tanchoi Silk, Banarasi Buti Silk; fabrics: Banaras Tanchoi Silk, Banaras Cut-Work, Plain Tussar, Ikat, Pochampalli; Kullu Shawls and Pochampalli Bedspreads was available for public from April 15, 2016.
Alok Kumar, Development Commissioner (Handloom) said, “The store is a retail platform provided by CCIC, exclusive for India Handloom brand high-quality product. All the IHB products are on offer at an affordable price in Bengaluru after the recent launch of IHB store in the city. The Government has been making efforts in popularising indigenous products and this provides an ideal platform to showcase and sell the wide array of products in the textile segment that our country has been producing.
The government has been focusing on encouraging Indian artisans and empowering them.â€Â
The showcased collections are made using textiles from across India to create a unique identity and promote the rich Indian culture and heritage. This is a part of a continued initiative by the IHB to promote Indian handloom. The main focus is to retain the sanctity of the traditional hand-woven textiles while molding the styles for a more contemporary look.
Pramod Nagpal, MD, CCIC, said “We are happy to be a part of India Handloom products. The IHB logo will be an assurance to customer of quality and indigenousness. It is a great initiative by the government to display the handwoven strengths and sell the original and high quality products made by natural dyes. As the government is taking a number of initiatives to promote weavers, we are committed to provide original and high quality IHB logo products to our customers.â€Â
Benefit for weavers
The presence of India Handloom Brand logo would differentiate their product(s) and assure the customer of its quality. The premium branding will enable the weavers to use good quality raw material and produce high quality product(s) and enhance their sales and earnings through bulk marketing of these product(s) both within and outside India. Registered users of the India Handloom brand will also be provided assistance for institutional finance, design development, technical assistance under the National Handloom Development Program’s as per the applicable guidelines.â€Â
Launched by Prime Minister on August 7, 2015, the first National Handloom Day is to endorse the quality of handloom products in terms of raw material, processing, embellishment, weaving, design and other parameters besides social and environment compliance. The main objective is to promote the production of quality products with new designs for winning the trust and confidence of customers by giving particular attention to the defect free, hand woven, authentic niche products with zero defect and zero impact on environment. The registration under the brand is given after stringent testing of samples in Govt. of India laboratory. By March 31, 2016, 170 handloom producing agencies/enterprises have been given registration under the brand in 41 product categories. Several e-commerce platforms and leading retail stores have been engaged for marketing of India Handloom branded products.