Hanumakonda: Weavers add jeans to their repertoire

Hanumakonda: Cutting across all age groups, jeans is an obsession. To make the most of this obsession, the weavers in Kamalapur have come up with denim cotton fabrics to capture the attention of the jeans lovers. As part of their product diversification, these weavers picked up Himroo, one of the oldest weaving traditions still alive in the country, a couple of years ago.

Furthering their efforts to withstand the onslaught of competition from new age of hi-tech textiles, recently the Kamalapur Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society (KHWCS) dared to take up the weaving of denim for the jeans pants. Passion for jeans among the people world around never diminished since it was patented in 1873 by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis.

Established in 1950, the KHWCS is one of the oldest handloom societies that held its fort aloft despite the bombardment of new age textiles. "Much of the credit goes to Commissioner of Handlooms and Textiles and Apparel Export Parks Shailaja Ramaiyer. Without her encouragement, it wouldn't have been possible to take up Himroo and now handloom jeans," Hanumakonda District Handlooms and Textile Assistant Development Officer, and Official Person-in charge of KHWS Sribhashyam Ravindra told The Hans India.

After rolling out Himroo, it appeared producing jeans cloth would be apt to make some buzz in the market. As an experimental basis, we started one maggam and the product immediately got the attention of Blue Lotus Handloom, a wholesaler and retail in Hyderabad. The firm ordered 400 meters of 45-inch panna, he said.

KHWCS manager Samala Damodar said, "We have plans to start two more maggams to produce 60-inch panna clothing in a few days. The business is encouraging as we have received orders from TS Special Police Battalion in Mamnoor, besides others across from Hyderabad and Warangal. However, we are planning to supply the 60-inch panna denim to our customers. The 45-inch panna is a bit costly compared to the 60-inch panna."

Weaver Sambaiah said that weaving jeans cloth needs more effort. The cloth is soft, durable and more comfortable to wear than the other cloth available in the market. As of now, the price of handloom jeans cloth (45-inch panna) is Rs 325 per meter, and it would be around Rs 410 per meter for the 60-inch panna cloth.