Ecommerce companies revive sick handloom and bring back hope of weavers

摘要

Four years ago, about 500 of 600 operational handloom silk weavers in Katoria village of Banka district in Bihar had shut shops amid a demand slump and dwindling profits. "It was an exceptionally bad year for us. Many left for Mumbai to look for jobs and youngsters were not keen on taking forward the legacy," recalls Mohammad Izzaz, a weaver whose family too had stopped making Banka silk a year later. That was then. Today, Izzaz and several other handloom artisans in his village are back in action, weaving Banka silk sarees and dress material for the booming ecommerce market.