Ahimsa silk weaves its way into global marketplace
Customers Across Europe, US Prefer ‘Peace Fabric’, Though It Lacks Lustre ……….Shramana Ganguly Mehta AHMEDABAD
SILK, the queen of fibre, has gone nonviolent. Ahimsa silk, the ‘humane’ version of the silken fabric made without sacrificing silkworms, is being embraced by those who shun violence. Ahimsa silk is not just luxury. It is a statement which has attracted not just religious sects from the country but even international retail chains like Marks & Spencer,
Organic Avenue and US-based environmentallyconscious fashion designers like Deborah Lindquist and Linda Loudermilk, to look towards India for this “peace fabric”.
Unlike conventional silk that entails killing of silkworms, ahimsa silk ensures that the moth completes its life-cycle and leaves the cocoon behind for the weavers to handspin the yarn. Despite lacking in texture and lustre of conventional silk and almost twice as expensive, environment-conscious customers across Europe and US have emerged as the patrons of ahimsa silk and take pride in rejecting the gloss fabric to endorse its humane version.
Andhra Pradesh-based Rajaiah Kusuma, a technical officer with the Andhra Pradesh State Handloom Weavers’ Co-operative Society, credited to have invented ahimsa silk during early 2000, has been churning out 5,000 metres of this vegetarian silk annually. From his Hyderabad-headquartered manufacturing unit Ahimsa Silks, he has been exporting close to 150 to 200 metres of ahimsa silk to Europe and US. “In 2007-08, the turnover of Ahimsa Silks was Rs 45 lakh, majority of which came from exports,” he said. Mr Kusuma sources 2.5 tonne of cocoons from nearby villages of Hyderabad every year and then churns out ahimsa silk from them.
Unlike regular silk that costs Rs 200 to Rs 225 per metre, ahimsa silk costs about Rs 500 per metre in the domestic market and Rs 350 to Rs 400 per metre in export market, said chairman of the Indian Silk Export Promotion Council TV Maruthi. “Of the Rs 3,400 crore worth of silk exported from India in 2007 calendar year, about Rs 15-20 crore was ahimsa silk.
The non-violent silk addresses the requirement of niche clientele across US, Europe, Far East and Middle East and has been steadily growing over the last four years,” he said. A weaver himself, Mr Maruthi’s Hanuman Weaving Factory in Bangalore, leaves aside 10% of its total output for ahimsa silk. “While Indian market of ahimsa silk is restricted to certain religious sects, it finds ardent support from the eco-friendly brigade in the international market,” he said.
Agrees Gujarat-based fashion designer Jigna Shah who has been meeting the requirement of international retail chain M&S for ahimsa silk. “I have been supplying fabric and apparel to Indian fashion designers and domestic and international retail chains. While I did supply ahimsa silk fabric to Raymond some time back, I realised that paucity of ahimsa silk in the market makes it difficult to fulfill orders. However, I have continued to promote ahimsa silk and intend to retail it aggressively for my niche clients,” she said.
Pune-based Ahimsa Peace Silk (India) is one of the renowned players in this niche category. The company has been producing ahimsa silk since four years now and has internationally-reputed fashion designers like Deborah Lindquist and Linda Loudermilk as her clients, director of the company Leelavati Sabale told ET.
“Unlike conventional silk, ahimsa silk lacks the feel and sheen that has kept off Indian buyers from adopting it. Internationally, people are more conscious of what they wear and strongly believe that patronising ahimsa silk reiterates their commitment towards nature,” she said. From a collection of 30 fabrics, her unit has doubled the stocks of non-violent silk over the years to churn out the fabric that makes a statement and is no more a luxury.
While there are weavers claiming to produce ahimsa silk across some pockets of the country, they are merely encashing on the concept. “Their claim that they do not kill silkworms for producing silk is an eye-wash. Most of them collect leftover yarns from cocoons boiled for conventional silk making. It is like passing the buck on the primary weaver,” noted environmentalist Maneka Gandhi points out. Ms Gandhi’s NGO People for Animals developed this non-violent method of producing silk in 2005 and subsequently handed over the business to Pune-based Ahimsa Peace Silk.