By NNN-PTI,
Kancheepuram, India : With weavers of the famous ‘Kancheepuram’ sarees migrating to greener pastures, traders are finding it hard to cope with orders.
The traders flooded with orders, are throwing up their hands in despair as master weavers, who acquired the special skill from their forefathers have settled for regular jobs over the years.
According to a recent study by weavers’ cooperatives here, about 50,000 weavers switched their profession in the past ten years leaving hardly 8,000 actively taking active part in the trade.
As a result, traders in this historical town of Tamil Nadu state lament that they cannot meet orders since there are not enough weavers to make these special sarees, an inseparable part of the Indian household.
The state-owned Co-Optex, the Apex marketing body for cooperative societies, say they are hard put to meet targets.
The increasing demand is amazing, considering that just two years back, the societies were saddled with unsold stocks worth Rs two crore and a situation where it was not possible to give full employment to weavers, says a special officer of a leading society. (One crore: ten million)
An analysis of declining sales revealed that Kancheepuram sarees once constituted only 30 per cent of total sales and it was decided that the weaving industry would have to be in tune with present trends and marketing methods.
Cost was a deciding factor in popularising new designs, as it took a lot of time to make these sarees, he said.