Warangal durries have been famous for many reasons. The famous durries or rugs are made using vegetable colours, and are washed in flowing water after the printing process.
Though the number of weavers have increased over the years, sales haven’t gone up proportionally.
Recently, e-commerce giant Amazon signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Telangana Department of Handlooms and Textiles to help handloom clusters in Warangal, Pochampally etc. There has been a mixed response, as some weavers are yet to get orders through Amazon.
Pitta Ramulu, an award-winning weaver from Kothawada, Warangal makes has been making durries that use cotton and jute for 40 years. His durries have kalamkari patterns on them.
Speaking to TNM, Ramulu said that he’s hoping the number of orders increases. “Orders haven’t picked up much. I’ve got a few orders through Amazon, and so has my son,” he said.
Image courtesy: Pitta Ramulu/Amazon.in
Pitta Ramulu was also the first weaver to get recognised with a national award, according to The Hans India. He had won the ‘‘National Handloom Award’ for 2015. Ramulu’s durries can be found here on Amazon.
Adepu Ravi, another weaver from Warangal who signed up on Amazon, said that business was okay otherwise, but he has not received any orders from the e-commerce giant as yet.
Warangal has been a long-standing centre for durries, and according to the Handloom Export Promotion Council, 80% of the handwoven durries sold in European and American markets are woven in India.
Currently, there are about 24 weaver associations and societies who have registered on Amazon to sell their wares. It has been about 5 months.
This isn’t the first such initiative of the Telangana government. In March 2016, the Telangana State Handicrafts Development Corporation tied up with Amazon India to sell local hand-made ‘Golkonda’ handicraft products. Many weavers are also registered on the India Handmade Bazaar, a portal sponsored by the Government of India, which also sells Indian handlooms and handicrafts.
This is only one amongst the many initiatives that have been picked up to get more handicrafts and handlooms online and available to a larger group of people, including the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited, a PSU under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Amazon had partnered with the handloom division of Union Ministry of Textiles earlier to train and enable cooperative groups so that they could sell their products directly on the website.