JOIN USAround 50 cooperative societies have participated in ‘Vasthrasaagara 2015’, a 15-day state-level special handloom exhibition and sale which has been organised by Development Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles & Department of Handloom and Textiles at Pradeshik Hindi Prachara Samiti Hall, Nehru Avenue road in Mangaluru on Sunday.
The weavers of Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru Rural, Chamarajanagar sale silk verities, while vendors from Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Ballari, Haveri have collections in cotton cloths. Ilkal of Vijapura, furnishing cloths of Koppal and Bandini dress material of Andhra Pradesh attracted the onlookers.
“This is a forum for weavers to sell their product directly to customers with 20 per cent discount, which they will get as rebate,” he said.
Sapthagiri handlooms of Chikkaballapur, which had sold sarees worth Rs 5 lakh in last year’s event, had collection of sarees ranging from Rs 3,600 to Rs 18,000. Here the minimum price of silk saree is Rs 2,000, but in showroom it would be up to Rs 10,000, shopkeeper Shivanna claimed.
Molakalmuru Taluk Handloom Weavers Production and Sale Cooperative Society Limited Secretary Raghavendra said he is participating in the expo from past five years in Mangaluru.
“The response of the customers is great and we have also earned many regular customers here. We have cotton silk, soft silk, reception sarees, Gadwal sarees and many other pricing between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000. Last year we had sold sarees worth Rs two lakh,” he said.