A story in a magazine gave C Sekar the idea of using alternative fibres to create saris
\nAt a time when the Indian handloom sector is on a wobbly path, weavers are changing the course with innovation and entrepreneurship. \u201cWith his eco-friendly weaves, C Sekar is doing his bit,\u201d says Pavithra Muddaya of the Vimor Handloom Foundation. \u201cAfter years of trial and error, he has developed 25 natural fibres, including from banana stems.\u201d Sekar, who participated in a workshop at Vimor\u2019s handloom festival recently, bought some of his best creations for display.<\/p>\n
Recognising that weavers in Anakaputhur, a suburb near the Chennai airport, were in decline, Sekar developed a way of resuscitating the industry with sustainable practices. \u201cI am the third-generation of weavers,\u201d he says. \u201cMy father, P Chenchiya, faced terrible hardships to continue his vocation. I could not see a thriving weaving community fading away. Anakaputhur has a history of skilled weavers making beautiful handwoven saris, dhotis, lungis, and shirt fabrics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sekar is determined to keep the legacy alive. Anakaputhur used to produce Madras-checked fabric for export to Nigeria. The weavers were hit by the ban on import of fabric in 1966. Over the past 15 years, the weavers have shifted completely to natural fibre, thanks to Sekar.<\/p>\n
The village, which had 5,000 looms in the 1970s with each household boasting five looms, today has only 100. If 57-year-old Sekar\u2019s efforts take off, he believes Anakaputhur, will become world famous for its 100% banana fibre saris, shirts, and fabric.<\/p>\n
Sekar made it to the Limca Book of Records for weaving a sari using 25 natural fibres. \u201cI work with around 100 weavers and head the Anakaputhur Jute Weavers\u2019 Association,\u201d says Sekar whose son, S Mahendran, is also joining the business. The association was formed under the Ministry of Textiles, with a 90% grant to encourage weavers to create more natural fibre fabric.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe South India Textile Research Association involved us in weaving jute and cotton-blended yarn. This set me thinking of how to develop natural fibre yarn from other sources too. I remember reading a story from the Ramayana in a Tamil magazine. When Sita, needed a change of clothes, she pleaded with Hanuman to get her a sari woven from vaazhai naaru (banana fibre). That got me thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A story in a magazine gave C Sekar the idea of using alternative fibres to create saris At a time when the Indian handloom sector is on a wobbly path, weavers are changing the course with innovation and entrepreneurship. \u201cWith his eco-friendly weaves, C Sekar is doing his bit,\u201d says Pavithra Muddaya of the Vimor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[13444,11877,12468],"supplier":[16495,16498,16497],"class_list":["post-69947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-fabrics","tag-naturalfibres","tag-textiles","supplier-ministry-of-textiles-india","supplier-south-india-textile-research-association-sitra","supplier-the-vimor-handloom-foundation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69947"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=69947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}