Meet the weavers of Negamam cotton saris, which could soon get a GI tag
The Hindu
A GI tag application has set the spotlight on handloom cotton saris from villages around Negamam near Pollachi, which are a practical balance of softness and strength
Thrice a month, G Valliammal catches the morning bus to Pollachi from her village, a cloth bag slung across her shoulder.
The bag bears precious cargo: three Negamam cotton saris woven by the 80-year-old and her husband. “I take them to a textile shop in the city; they are our employers,” she says, running her hands over maroon cotton threads on the loom at her home at Kullakapalayam, a village eight kilometres from Negamam, and 40 kilometres from Coimbatore.
Earlier this year, P Sanjai Gandhi, a Government advocate, High Court of Madras, and Geographical Indication registration attorney, filed a GI tag application on behalf of 15 co-operatives from the region.