TN govt to introduce new textile designs to capture national and global markets

Chennai, May 3 (KNN) The Tamil Nadu government has decided to introduce new designs for traditional textile products with the aim to showcase in the national and international market.

A senior official from the state textile department told DT Next that in order to meet the objective of bringing innovation in production and design for producing marketable products, the department has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Chennai and Bengaluru to develop 400 new designs.

“Through NIFT, 100 new designs would be developed for silk sarees, 100 for cotton and kora sarees”, he said adding “similarly, 40 new designs each for bedspreads and bedsheets, about 20 new designs for ‘jamakkalams’.”

As per reports, NIFT has imparted strategic design intervention training to 44 master designers from Weavers Co-operative Societies, Co-optex, and block-level clusters through the officials of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.

“The training was given on creating a diversified range of designs and colour combinations so as to add elegance to the cotton and silk varieties produced by the handloom weavers in the State,” he said.

At present, the average annual production of various handloom products is around Rs 500 crore. With the creation of new designs, the production is expected to go up to Rs 700 crore.

“All the new designs will be approved by the panel in the textile department and all the designs will get the copyright,” the senior official added.  (KNN Bureau)