Woraiyur Cotton

The ancient 300 BC Chola capital called Woraiyur, is the today’s Trichy. The handloom industry situated in and around the district tells the pathetic tale of the surviving weaving communities.

Finer cotton counts 60s, 80s, 100s, 120s, 2/120s are being used to make these varieties. The cotton yarn is bought from Coimbatore mills through NHDC. The approved dyer for Co-operative Societies operatefrom Jeyamkondam situated 95 km from Trichy.

They source the yarn from cooperative society. Except weaving, all other pre loom process are done in a place called manamedu. Not even a carpenter is present in woraiyur to fix the loom incase of damage. Most of the weavers are 70+ and are expecting govt's support.

They have one traditional design (a saree with a 2 inch border and 5 inch pallu) rest of the others evolved. The weaving charges are 175-200 for a saree. These sarees were initially had 50" width. Later co-optex asked them to weave sarees with 47" width. Also they initially weaved 100 count sarees, but now switched to 80 count as they cannot concentrate weaving on the thinner yarn.

 

These sarees are soft and suits a minimalist. They are woven without blouse. Recently, they’ve come up with new designs including tie-dye pattern.

They have orders coming up, but not the manpower to do it. Increasing their wages is gonna increase the price of the saree and they aren’t interested in it. They want subsidiary prices while procuring yarn. Also, 10-15 designs that shouldn’t be copied in the powerloom so that the saree design remains unique thereby not affecting their work