Smriti Irani asks big commercial brands to source directly from weavers

Union Minister Smriti Irani has called upon big commercial brands like BIBA and Arvind Mills to source cloth directly from the weavers, a move that will help provide remunerative prices to them by eliminating middlemen engaged in the process.

We are appealing to people in the commercial segment, big brands such as BIBA, Arvind to come together with the weavers and source their cloth directly from the weavers, thereby bringing about a synergy that was long absent, she said.

The Minister for Textiles and Women and Child Development made the remarks in a virtual interaction with Sadhguru, Founder, Isha Foundation.

The conversation centered around breathing new life into India's textile industry and reversing the fortunes of indigenous weavers. The conversation, a part of the 'In Conversation with the Mystic' series, was webcast live on August 7 to mark the National Handloom Day.

Last year, Sadhguru launched 'Save the Weave', a campaign to revive and popularize India's ancient weaves.

During the interaction, Sadhguru spoke about the need to encourage the Indian textile industry by introducing handloom products in schools, tourism circuits and aviation industry.

He also pitched for school uniforms to be made from handmade weaves.

It is a crime to wrap a child in a polyfiber. You do that to dead fish, not to living children. Especially a child's body is very vulnerable to this both their physical and psychological wellbeing is impacted by polyfiber entering into their system," Sadhguru said.