Sambalpur: The famous Sambalpuri fabric of Odisha needs online marketing platforms and modern handloom designs to expand its reach to consumers across the globe, according to a study by a premier management school.
The Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur (IIM-S) which conducted the study on weavers has also planned to work for taking the Sambalpuri fabric to the global market.
Director of IIM-S, Mahadeo Jaiswal said: “Marketing of the Sambalpuri fabrics on digital platforms will take the beautiful fabric to global markets. We have already initiated dialogue for marketing of Sambalpuri handloom products. If everything goes well as per plan, an MoU will be signed with Flipkart in New Delhi in March”.
Jaiswal further said that there is also a need to improve the financial literacy levels of the weavers here. There are many weavers in this area with awesome skills. However, when it comes to business, many of them are unaware of what is required to undertake business in the national or the global market.
“We have also planned to instill them with the required business knowledge so that they could do the business in national and global markets. We have also planned to organize workshops and training programmes for the weavers for this purpose”, he said.
Jaiswal said new and modern designs should also be introduced in Sambalpuri fabrics considering the demand of the people of different regions.
He said IIM-S has planned to take the help of professional designers. “We will also create a fund to rope in professional designers. We have planned to approach PSUs to provide money from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund for this purpose”, he added.
Meanwhile, the IIM-S has already started discussion with the weavers of the region for marketing and new designs.
While around 5,500 weavers directly work under the Sambalpuri Bastralaya Handloom Cooperative Society, there are around 25,000 weavers in the districts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Balangir, Nuapara, Jharsuguda and Kalahandi in the western region of Odisha.
Weaving is the second largest employer after agriculture in this region of the state, he said.
PTI