Gleamberry- The Threads of Tension: The struggles of Indian Weavers
Every time a woman picks up a saree with elegant handwoven work and mesmerising details, she feels its beauty. She wears it with pride. Every weave, every thread holds intricacy and passion embedded into it. It’s enriching. But the process behind these beautifully made sarees and fabrics has quite a lot of work. Tireless hours of threading and weaving go into these pieces and they‘re often left unappreciated. For a country that offers more than 136 weaving techniques, why don’t we take more time and effort to appreciate these pieces with pride?
When it comes to fashion, the trends change even before you blink your eyes. And fast fashion is the perfect missing jigsaw piece that completes the average Indian consumer’s puzzle. With no time to ponder upon what to wear, people buy the latest trendy outfits and dust their hands off without even thinking of the consequences. Slow fashion is the opposite. It is something to be researched about and truly admired. This only comes in when you realise how undeniably painful the situation is for the weavers. The amount of time, effort and hard work poured into these fabrics and pieces is being completely overlooked and the art is simply bleeding to death with nothing to stop the wound. The fast pace of this world has left this industry too far behind.
Weavers also face issues like marketing problems where they have no clue how to promote and expand their business; Infrastructural constraints that have them working in the most terrible work conditions; Rise in price of raw materials which makes their art even more difficult to pick up the threads with; Lack of financial support is the saddening result of these conditions. These people put their entire hearts and sweat into this beautiful art and are still treated so meagrely. The balance is so off. The Indian Government has made some changes to help but it's only to a certain extent.
‘Just to stitch 1 cm, each drawloom needs 3 people and an entire day’, a handloom weaver from Varanasi says. Preserving the rich heritage of Indian, Iranian, Turkish textiles and so many more art forms, these weavers are truly remarkable for their work. So much so that some have poured their hearts and souls into writing numerous books that document the intricate techniques and exquisite weaves of these cultures. Appam Ramalu, a master weaver from Pochampally is one of the many skilled artisans from Gleamberry. Well versed in ikkat/ handloom fabrics, he formed his own unit to bring weavers together under a large market. These passionate artisans are dedicated to revive the ancient and beautiful weaving techniques.
Gleamberry’s aim is to set the balance straight. We want to provide ample opportunities, the rightful respect for their art, to truly appreciate their work, eradicate their problems one by one and support their communities. With drive and motivation, we give them the sense of stability and assurance at Gleamberry. The generation of today has become compulsive shoppers who are so engrossed with trends that they don’t stop to think about sustainable fashion. So how do we strike a chord with them? That’s why we’ve got Tradition with a Twist! We’re not simply looking at making the lives of these weavers better but also create unique designs and charming pieces so we’re winning over every generation. We want to be important in each atmosphere, in fashion but also in making a difference in sustainability and the lives of these weavers. We provide a platform for artisans and weavers to showcase and utilise their skills while delivering desired products to our customers. Every piece Gleamberry gives out holds years and years of heritage and culture, months and months of hard work and love. We earnestly want our customers to be happy with our products.
If you’re curious to know more about our artisans and the diverse weaving techniques they use, you should stay in touch. Because you can read about them in our next blog!
