Businessmen are taking part in a week-long silk expo here, which has been organised by the Silk Mark Organisation of India to boost the sales of the famed and traditional South Indian silk.
The holding of the expo is also aimed at benefiting the weavers.
The exhibition is expected to showcase the entire range of pure silk fabric from remote weaving clusters of India under one roof, which will have 64 participants from over 17 states across the country.
“The main objective of this exhibition is to help the people to understand the varieties of silk from all over the country. At the same time we are giving a platform to the manufacturers to sell their goods and ensure the better prospects for themselves and the industry also. In this exhibition we have more than 14 states with more than 20 clusters participating. We are assuring 100 percent purity of silk. We are inculcating habit among the people to buy silks with silk mark labels,” said Assistant Director of Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles, B.Chandan Kumar.
From muted shades to bright hues, the expo offers a wholesome shopping experience.
The exhibition witnessed visitors thronging the stalls of traditional silk sarees with double thread weaving that follows warp and weft technology, Uppada silk sarees with ‘pen-kalamkari’, ‘patachitra’ and ‘Madhubani’ paintings on mulberry-Tussar sarees and Paithani and Tussar weaves with Kalamkari prints.
Kumar added that in a span of hardly six years, the organisation had enrolled 2,000 quality authorised users, making available 14.50 million silk mark labelled products in the consumer market.
Meanwhile, the stall owners expressed their delight and said such exhibitions provide a source of livelihood to the weavers who toil working for long hours in the factories.
“We want to increase our business in the entire country. We want to support the weavers who are working under us. There is lot of change in our lives from when we started the business and now. We will keep doing something new,” said a stall-owner, Shabana Mirza.
The exhibition will conclude on January 8.
Indians have a flair for silk fabric and is widely used by designers for traditional as well as contemporary dresses. About 97 percent of the raw silk is produced in five major states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir. (ANI)