Uppada silks rule at national handloom exhibition

The ongoing National Handloom Expo at the Rice Millers’ Association Hall is drawing huge crowds. The expo has on display the exquisite handmade fabrics in vibrant colours and trendy designs to suit the requirement of classy women and also gentlemen, who prefer to feel good in traditional clothing.

The stalls from districts like Guntur, Prakasam, East Godavari and Chittoor have put for sale a number of varieties in Uppada, Dharmavaram, Venkatagiri and Mangalagiri fabrics in varied styles.

Uppada saris with colour twists and zari borders are to look out for in the expo, which is all hand-woven on looms. There are about a three varieties in the Uppada patterns namely, pure silk, Seeko and Cotton. While the cotton texture gives a classy look to elderly women, the pure silk in Uppada fabric is a rage among young girls and working women.

In addition, a variety that has hit the market in the handloom segment is Kollam Silk, which is hard to touch but, adds to the wardrobe likes of the people. Speaking to the CityTAB, a seller from Gollapalli of Chittoor district Alluru Venkataramaiah said, “Uppada is what our society majorly works on.

We do all types of sarees on loom in this variety ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 1 lakh and above. Usually, after setting the loom for 15 days before weaving the saree, we make sure the combinations are set and not repeated.

There is also space for new designs and mix of colours. About five days is required for a plain saree on Uppada to be made and 15 days for a saree that has zari all over.”

Kanagala, Mangalagiri, Chirala, Ramireddy Nagar, Cherukupalli, Mangalagiri from Guntur districts, Desaipeta, Jandrapeta, Devangapuri areas from Prakasam district, a weaver’s society from Warangal and Uttar Pradesh along with Venkatagiri in Nellore, Srikalahasti from Chittoor and Mori from East Godavari have also displayed their products.

Men were also seen thronging the venue to choose between the Telangana art, Ikat of Pochampally, Ponduru Khadi and linen besides shirting. Weavers are offering about 20 per cent discount on the entire range of handmade fabrics.

Sales assistant at APCO, A Venkateswara Rao said, ‘’generally, we market the handloom products that are manufactured from our State. Besides the men’s textiles, we offer a variety of Venkatagiri, Dharmavaram, Madhavaram, Uppada, Jamdhani, Peddapuram silk and other pure silk saris.

But, Dharmavaram, Pochampally are also put up for sale. A festive discount of 30 per cent is being offered at the products in our stall.” The expo offers home linen and bed spreads that are made by artisans from northern part of the country and is open till January 12.