Taylor swift in dress by Untitled 11:11
Fabric by Indigo Handloom

Up and coming fashion design duo, and customer of Indigo Handloom “Untitled 11:11,” just had one of their gowns photographed on Taylor Swift for the cover of UK’s Bliss Magazine. Co-founders and co-designers David Peck and Laurel Anderson designed the dress.
David and Laurel met at Parsons Design School in Paris and though they only started their fashion line last year, they are getting a lot of notice. They came to Indigo Handloom for fabric because they would like their business to be “socially conscious” which means they are aware of the hardships and problems in society and would like to do something about it. They see the benefit of buying handloom fabric because of the employment opportunities it creates for weavers. David and Laurel also utilize the design freedom that handloom fabric offers; the freedom of handloom is that because the minimum order amounts are so low you can design your own fabrics without too high a financial risk. They have participated in designing most of the fabrics that they have ordered from our handloom weavers.
The dress above is Indigo Handloom fabric, hand woven in India, the warp is clear lurex and the weft is cotton.

Untitled 11:11 Website

Socially Conscious Bond

Daniel Craig, the newest Bond
Picture borrowed from "Thundersquee" online publication

“The Hindu Business Line” reports that “Reid and Taylor,” fabric and apparel company from England, has decided to become a customer of handloom fabric.
“Reid and Taylor” is most famous for its association with the custom suits that movie character James Bond is seen wearing in the films. In the past they used Harris Tweed, which is a machine made Tweed exported from Scotland. They are now seeing the benefits of using and promoting 100% handmade tweed, called Kashmir Tweed. They report that the Kashmir Tweed uses a non-greasy long fiber that makes the fabric soft and flexible. In addition to the hand and aesthetic benefits of this beautiful fabric, handmade Kashmir Tweed it is also a fraction of the price of machine made Harris Tweed.
Below is the full article of “Reid and Taylor’s” interest in handloom fabric.

"Reid and Taylor" Interest in hand woven fabric.

Momotaro Handwoven Jeans

Momotaro Denim Jeans
Picture found on "Self Edge- New York" Online publication

Denim, the go-to fabric for American comfort and style is now getting recognition for being available as handwoven. “Denim News” reported that the company “Momotaro” is hand weaving the denim used in their apparel. The “Momotaro” showroom in Japan houses large floor looms where their denim is hand woven. Now denim, one of the most common apparel textiles in America, can be both stylish and socially conscious.

Momotaro News

Hand Weaving Clusters

The “Indian Business Standard” reports that machine weaving has forced many hand weavers to put away their looms and join millions of others in low wage factory jobs. As a result the Indian government has implemented a plan that they hope will stop the demise of the traditional Indian weavers and their age-old craft and industry.
Government money is helping to create a weaving cluster near Madurai, a city in the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India. A weaving cluster is an organized group of upwards of 75,000 weavers. They believe that this funding will employ around 50,000 currently unemployed weavers. The goal of this project is to create a cluster that will save the hand weaving industry in India by increasing productivity and boosting marketing.

Hand Weavers Cluster
by Reporter Chennai

Handloom vs Machine Loom

by A. Prabaharan
Indopraba

In this blog, A. Prabaharan examines the difficulties of handloom weavers in their effort to compete with machine made cloth. Not only is the world changing its taste and asking for manufactured cloth but now yarn supplies are also no interested in supplying to handloom weavers.


India cannot shine in the vast tracks of its villages if its traditional economic enterprises are ignored. Handloom is one of the core business and livelihood activities around the country.

For the past few years, the handloom weavers are suffering due to multiple problems. Mainly due to the arrival of powerloom and because of the secondary treatment of the government. For the constant growth of the the village economy it is important to promote handloom.

When crores of rupees are being spent on imparting vocational skills, how does it feel to know that lakhs of persons with well-established craft
skills are being forced to give up their precious skills and take up unskilled daily wage labour?

This is precisely what is happening in the case of lakhs of handloom weavers who had inherited and learnt intricate skills of weaving on handlooms, yet have been forced in recent times to

There is much more information in the article which is posted below.

Full Article: Handloom vs. Machine