Art for Artists’ Sake: The State of Handloom

People sometimes ask me why I would promote other handloom organizations, when conventional wisdom suggests that a business owner should always be wary of the competition.

Here’s the simple reason: the handloom industry and those who produce handloom have too much at stake for me not to support my colleagues. Almost every week, I read news articles detailing the demise of the traditional handloom industry. Incredibly, this amazing art form that has been practiced for hundreds of years is in danger of being wiped out within a decade!

It’s one to thing to mourn the loss of an art form, but I’m concerned primarily with the artists themselves. Most handloom weavers have little or no education and few resources to support themselves or their families. Without the ability to earn money from their weaving, they will either starve or flee to the cities in search of work—adding even more to the growing number of the world’s desperately poor. Here they have this amazing talent with incredible value, and yet, in a matter of years, it will be gone forever—so heartbreaking.

So here’s why I support and promote other handloom organizations: I know that my contribution to this industry and its producers are just a drop in the bucket—there’s just no way I (or any of my colleagues) can do it alone. If someone buys handloom products from another company, it indirectly supports all of us who produce and sell handloom. Indeed, even if a company spends time with me learning about how to use handloom, but then ends up with another supplier, at least handloom as a whole is still being supported. While I’d love to have their business (of course!), I know at the bottom of my heart that they’re still helping me to fulfill my mission.

Interested in learning more? Check out this article about a region in which more than six generations of families have sustained themselves by weaving—until now. While there were once nearly 3,000 weavers in this area, there are now only 142 looms left.

This article details yet another region facing similar circumstances: in the Rangpur district, only 150 weavers now remain in an area that used to support 6,000.

There are many reasons why handloom is declining: changing tastes in the domestic market, the WTO rules governing textiles, and the surging Indian economy. While it’s great to understand the issues facing these artists, I’m concerned more with finding a way to make a difference. Again, not just for the art form that I love, but for the people who produce it.