Sari industry hangs by a thread - 20th May 2022

On the banks of the River Ganges, in the Indian city of Varanasi, is a dwindling cottage industry of artisans who create silk saris by hand. These garments are cherished by their owners as the epitome of traditional, Indian sartorial style.

Despite their appeal, in the face of mass-produced alternatives and low-price goods imported from China, this traditional handicraft's under threat.

Mohammad Sirajuddin's from a long line of handweavers, and he's fearful the artisans' days are now numbered.

Mohammad Sirajuddin: "Our production of handloom Banarasi saris has come down significantly. If you walk around this whole neighbourhood and look, you'll see that this is the only house with a handloom unit. Even this will be here only as long as I am alive. After that, nobody in this house will continue hand weaving."

The Baranasi saris, so-called after the city's old name, are renowned for their exquisite handiwork, and one sari alone costs upwards of $400 – although little remains for the handweavers themselves after production costs and the cuts by middlemen.

Jaya Jaitly, who has documented the craft in her book "Woven Textiles of Varanasi", is convinced their skills merit government assistance.

Jaya Jaitly: "But I do still believe very strongly that the handloom must be supported because we have the largest number of varieties of handloom, techniques, skills and people employed more than anywhere else in the world. And I think that's truly a tradition to be proud of. No other country in the world can claim the variety of handmade textiles that India has."

The fortunes of the Indian textile trade have long been subject to foreign influences – England's industrialisation flooded India with cheaper alternatives in the 18th century, while at the end of the 20th century, competitively priced yarn and fabric from China decimated the Indian market.

But Jaitly maintains there's far more than simple economics at stake.

Jaya Jaitly: "So all of these were thriving industries. It got killed through mechanisation and even more so through Chinese competition and their push and their ability to produce huge quantities at very low prices. Now the economics works but the humanity doesn't work, the culture doesn't work, livelihoods don't work."