Anakaputhur is a town in Kancheepuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, it is

15minute drive from Chennai airport.the roads are narrow and congested, like any other
suburb. Anakaputhur was once famous for its traditional weaving business, which has
declined due to modern competition, this place seems to bursting it seams, unable to cope
up with rapid urbanisation.
Anakaputhur With its lost name, is now gaining fame for a small eco-friendly initiative. For
the last 15 years, C Shekar, a weaver, has been quietly making fabrics out of vazhai naaru
(banana fibre), inspired by the traditional weavers of Philippines.
With a population of about 25,000, Anakaputhur has only 750 handloom weavers today.
Its decreasing in recognition and that is why this part of the city needs attention.

HISTORY
The livelihood of almost the entire village had once depended on weaving, rolling out bales
for the famous Real Madras handkerchiefs used by Nigerian women. Some 100 years ago,
during the colonial days, these cotton handkerchiefs, in indigo blue, maroon, beige, offwhite and black, and actually measuring six yards in length and 36 inches in breadth,
draped these dusky women and even served as their headscarves.
Lagos, the Nigerian city, even opened up an overseas office at old Washermanpet in north
Chennai, closer to the Port, for shipping the handkerchiefs back home.
But business slackened from the late 1960s following military rule in Nigeria and
Anakaputhurs Mudaliars and Devanga Chettiars, the two traditional weaver communities,
began to look beyond their centuries-old profession for a livelihood.
The 500-odd families today left with their pit looms and small business are struggling to
keep the tradition alive.
Shekar is among them. But about 15 years ago, just when the world was warming to the
idea of bio-friendly products, Shekar did a bit of research and discovered that weavers in
Philippines were making shirts and dresses out of banana fibres. With increasing demand for
clothes made of natural fibres, Shekar, president of the villages Jute Weavers Association,
began to explore the possibilities.
There is a lot of potential. But we need the technology for weaving lengthier fabrics, said
Shekar, pointing out that the looms to weave cotton fabrics were not exactly suitable for
banana fibres.
The weaver approached government and private organisations to expand his banana
initiative and get them to fund a field trip to Philippines. If the Indian government
intervenes, the Philippines government might be willing to train a few of us in the art of
making long fabrics out of banana fibres. We would even learn to weave sarees, wholly
made of banana fibres on suitable warps, he said. And,

the best thing about these fabrics is that they are biodegradable, finally broken down into
water and carbon dioxide by microorganisms in the soil.
It would take Shekar and his wife, Padma, at least a month to make just one five-and-a-half
metre saree using this process. But despite the tediousness, Shekar has managed to weave
50 sarees using both cotton and banana fibres.
Today, the orders are small, from boutiques and private buyers. We need the help of the
government for this. With the methods available, a saree, which is purely a banana fibre
creation would cost a buyer Rs. 10,000. But if we had the technology for making longer
strands of banana fibres, we can do it in a day and it would cost half the price, he said.
Shekhar does his banana stem shopping at nearby Kunrathur, Kovur and the Koyambedu
wholesale market. He even picks up discarded stems from outside marriage halls,which use
them to decorate the entrance.
While recent bulk orders for making jute products and fabrics have triggered some activity
in Anakaputhur, Skehkars attempt to popularise the banana fabrics is a lonely struggle. The
state government and the Apparel Export Promotion Council are yet to take him seriously.
The jute and cotton orders are not enough to keep all of us going. If the government
doesnt encourage our new initiative with banana fibres that has immense market abroad,
the weaving tradition will just fade out. Eventually, we will just become a part of a museum
exhibit or literature, he warns.

Market for Anakaputhur weavers products

huge demand is prevailing in national level markets like Karnataka and Andhra
Pradesh outside Tamilnadu and Globally also the products are popular in places
like Europe and USA to which its getting exported in large quantities, as these
hold a special place in the exhibitions held throughout all this places locally,
nationally and internationally.

http://www.theweekendleader.com/Dreams/564/weaver%E2%80%99s-dream.html
http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyId=25932
http://handloomnation.blogspot.in/2009/11/banana-fiber-aloe-and-hemp-leadweavers.html
http://www.tamilspider.com/resources/7331-About-anakaputhur-weavers-their-fiber.aspx

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/saree-made-from-natural-fibrelaunched/article5764975.ece