FDCI & DC Handlooms sign MoU to reinvent indigenous crafts

The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) has collaborated with the Development Commissioner (DC) Handlooms to reinvent indigenous crafts executed by handloom weavers through effective skill development.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) will facilitate designer intervention at selected Weavers Service Centres (WSCs) across India, FDCI said.

As per the MoU, designers will impart professional training in design development at various WSCs across the country. This will help add new vigour to age-old crafts, which will help make them more contemporary without losing focus of tradition.

This strategy has been devised with the long-term goal of making the handloom weaver an entrepreneur, through knowledge sharing and resource optimisation.

The MoU was signed by FDCI president Sunil Sethi and DC Handlooms Alok Kumar in Varanasi. FDCI designers Rajesh Pratap Singh, Anju Modi, Rakesh Thakore, Rina Dhaka, Rahul Mishra, Abhishek Gupta, Samant Chauhan and Shruti Sancheti were allocated their WSCs/handloom clusters in selected parts of the country.

The MoU is part of the revival strategy for the handloom industry announced by the ministry of textiles on the occasion of the National Handloom Day on August 7, 2016.