Two events marked every June in the western hemisphere stand for India’s rich history as the world’s clothier for centuries. This week, as Brazil celebrated the São João festival, lakhs of men in the country’s north wore bright red shirts sporting Madras checks. Earlier this month, the US Senate adopted a bipartisan resolution to observe the second midweek of every June as Seersucker Thursday, when the lawmakers would wear cotton jackets with the trademark wrinkly textile that gets its name from sheer-o-shakkar (figuratively, smooth and rough). Both weaves, which travelled westwards through British colonialists, are reminders of India’s once-vast textile trade that left long trails across the world. Rather than being content only with earning Geographical Indication or Unesco Heritage tags, the government must promote our textiles worldwide.
