THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Onam is one of the busiest seasons for weavers where production increases and the demand is high. However, it has been more than two years since the Kalamachal Handloom Weavers Co-operative Society in the district had a decent sale. “Although sales declined after the pandemic struck, we went on with production as usual to pay our weavers. But now, we are in a helpless situation as handloom textiles worth `60 lakh is remaining unsold,” says G Madhu, president of the cooperative society.
Other weavers’ cooperative societies have been facing a similar ordeal. With no seasonal markets organised for two years, huge stocks of handloom textiles are remaining piled up in the godowns.
Though the chances of getting good sales this year are low, weavers haven’t lost hope. “Every year during Onam, we earn around `45 lakh. However, this time, we have been able to earn only `13 lakh. We don’t think we will be able to make at least 50 per cent sales. However, we are continuing production because the lives of over 200 weavers depends on it,” said Madhu. “With online platforms taking the centre stage, we are also planning to explore the online market in future for better sales,” he added.
Most of the weavers’ societies sell their products to Hantex (Kerala State Weaver’s Cooperative Society) or on wholesale to various stores and boutiques across the state. Since there are movement restrictions, many have started tapping the online market. “ The demand for traditional Kerala cotton kasavu saris and set-mundu is high during the festival season. Depending on the design, a sari or set-mundu takes two days to weave. Handloom worth `5 lakh has already been handed over to Hantex. We are also doing online sales through WhatsApp,” said Kuzhivila Sasi, secretary of Pulluvila Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society.
Hanveev (Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation Limited). which has been helping in marketing the products of individual weavers, is also witnessing low sales. “There were close to 4,000 individual weavers under us. Now, less than 2,000 are remaining as many have shifted to other jobs,” said Siyad A, Thiruvananthapuram regional manager in charge, Hanveev.