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Why Handlooms are Dying in India- An Economic Argument

This is an adaptation to the answer to the post submitted on facebook by a reader:

Some people say that handlooms in India are dying and the reason is the emergence of powerloom and MNREGA. I agree with them that there is an imminent death of the handloom sector, but the reasons are different than what they site. Powerlooms and MNREGA are just alternatives they have for the handloom. The reasons are purely economic. One, switching of weavers from handloom to powerloom is just analogous to our switching to smart phone from your old phone for the simple reason that it is more efficient and productive. So a weaver, when he finds that the product of a powerloom is not so much different or even better from the point of view of the returns for his family, he will switch to alternatives like any rational human being. Running a powerloom is not as as simple that one relegate the task to some less skilled person. A break in powerloom whether warp or weft can ruin a whole product for the simple reasons that by the time it is noticed and the machine is stopped, a lot of picks have already gone by resulting in a patta or chira as the case may be- of course I am talking about the primitive powerlooms prevalent in our country without the warp or weft stop motions.

They also say that to protect the handlooms they are offering weavers twice the usual wages. However, their offering of double or even triple wages help a little, as their baseline wages are so small in relation to the effort involved that doubling or tripling may not help much.

Khadi sector is already diluted as the “amber charka” is like a mini ring frame taking its inputs from the mill product- roving. Only difference is that it has more defects and it is S-twisted. Genuine Charkhas produce so little that it is only used on the national days.

I feel it is our greed- the high profile elite consumers- that we let the weavers stick to the handloom when they have much better alternatives including powerloom. Let us not bind them into their age old professions for our greed by throwing them with yarn subsidies and increments in wages which are abysmally low as compared to their efforts. And they are realising that which is the effect you are witnessing across all the clusters. We need to remember that while business is talking numbers, they are also understanding numbers and taking actions which are good for their survival. Lets not make them the slaves of the handloom in th name of protecting the handlooms. 

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How to Calculate the Overall Machine Efficiency of Apparel Industries

How to Calculate the Overall Equipment/Machine Efficiency (OEE) of Garments IndustriesJoyankar MojumderInspectorModern Testing Services (BD) Ltd.280, East Narshinghpur, Ashulia, Savar, Dhaka.Email: mozumderjoy@yahoo.com
What is Overall Equipment/Machine Efficiency (OEE): 
OEE
is the framework for measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of a
process, by breaking it down into three

What is the Most Eco-friendly Fiber

How do we measure Eco-friendliness

A worldwide known measure is the estimation of Carbon Footprint for a particular activity. Carbon Footprint is the  amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community.

Measuring carbon footprint of textiles fibres involves the energy needed to make that fiber and then energy needed to weave that fiber into the yarn.

The following table gives an idea:

Energy used in MJ per kg of fiber

1. flax fiber: 10
2. Cotton: 55
3. Wool: 63
4. Viscose: 100
5. Polypropylene: 115
6. Polyester: 125
7. Acrylic: 175
8. Nylon: 250

Interestingly Cotton emits 5.90 ton of CO2 per ton of spun fiber. The same values for organic cotton ( India) are 3.80 and 2.35 respectively.

Thermal energy required per meter of weaving of cloth is 4,500-5,500 Kcal and electrical energy required per meter of cloth is 0.45-0.55 kwh and is independent of the nature of fiber. 

Processing of fibers, however, use a lot of chemicals and copious amount of water. 

Source

http://timeforchange.org/what-is-a-carbon-footprint-definition
https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/estimating-the-carbon-footprint-of-a-fabric/

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How to Improve Productivity and Saving Cost in Sewing Department

A STUDY ON IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY AND SAVING COST IN THE SEWING DEPARTMENT S.VIJAYAKUMAR, M.TECH TEXTILE CHEMISTRY, SSM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, KOMARAPLAYAM. Email: vijaykpm.s@gmail.com & MR. P.MAHESWARAN 

M.TECH., ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE CHEMISTRY, SSM COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, KOMARAPALAYAM,NAMAKKAL-638183.










ABSTRACT The project has been undertaken at

Burn Out Print Technique

Burn Out Print Technique 

Mohammad Nurul Alam SeniorMerchandiser | Asmara BD Pvt. Ltd. | Dhaka | Bangladesh E-mail: alamnur09@yahoo.com / alam@bd.asmaragroup.com https://bd.linkedin.com/in/nurul-alam-538b0919

I was trying to read in details about burn out print.
But it was not easy understanding & much informative that available
on internet. Most important fact is all the information is

Conversation between Ramie and Soybean Fibers

Conversation between Ramie and Soybean Fibers

Apoorva Mekari 

& 

Ankit MansinghkaT Y BTech, ICT Mumbai.Email: apoorvametkari30@gmail.com




Scene1 (soybean in jail- ramie comes to rescue him.)Ramie: Come on I have come to get you out of the jail. Just accept your mistake and they will let you out.Soybean: Let me guess. I have been arrested for stealing other fibres’ properties.Ramie: Yeah,

Metallic Fibre Vs Art Silk: Who is Better?

Metallic Fibre Vs. Art Silk: Who is Better?



Bholenath U. UpadhyayFibres and Textiles Processing Technology,ICT Mumbai, IndiaEmail: bholenath1996@gmail.com

 




METALLIC FIBRE: Hello everyone! My name is metallic fibre, commonly known as “fancy fibre” due to my glittery and happy nature, basically, I am a manufactured fibre composed of metal, plastic-coated metal, metal-coated plastic, or a

Technology of Charkha Spinning

This document is for textile technologist. You can download it from   here  or from here.

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What is the difference between Khadi and Handloom

Khadi means a cloth woven on Handloom using Hand –Spun Yarn. Handloom means cloth woven on Handloom using Mill-spun yarn.

Khadi cloth is generally much more porous. This gives Khadi a soft and well ventilated feel. The twist of the hand woven yarn is generally less than that of mill yarn. This less twist helps improve its absorption properties.

Yarn spun on Charakhaa has a twist in the direction of letter 'S'. If we twist the yarn in the direction of normal tightening of the right handed screw, the yarn gets more twist. ( The mill yarn has an opposite twist in the direction of letter 'Z').

Interestingly the count of Khadi is measured in km/kg or N/m. The general relationship between Nm and English count is 0.59 x Nm. Thus khadi that is sold in the khadi store as 250s count khadi is actually 250 x 0.59= 147s count, which is also very good.

Generally 1 meter of roving is converted to 20 m of yarn for Amber charkha.

It would be curious to know that one tree yields 1-2 kg of raw cotton. 40% of it can be used for spinning. As a thumb rule, from 1 kg of yarn of 40s count we can weave 7 to 8 sq meter of cloth ( of course, it also depends upon the reed and pick).

As a trivia, it takes 5-6 hours on Amber charkha to make a yarn required from 1 sq meter of cloth. One weaver family can weave about 200-250 meters of cloth per month.


Source 

Watch this movie on Khadi

and this movie

This movie narrates self employment through Khadi:

http://www.kvic.org.in/kvicres/images/KHADI_Englilsh_Compress.mp4 

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HOLIDAY LUNCHEON, Dec. 17, Noon

Time for our annual ritual of good food, conversation, and fun sheep and lambs.

DATE:  Saturday, December 17, 2016

PLACE:  Vilija's house [email for directions if you need them]

TIME:  Noon
Bring a food dish to share, and an ornament sized sheep to exchange. 

MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING:

Treadles to Threads Guild

Thurman Casey Library, Walnut Creek, CA

7:00 p.m., November 29, 2016

President Reba called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. We welcomed visitors, Isabelle and Brenda and two driver husbands.  We had 19 members present for a Tuesday night.

Joan Anderson gave a report on CNCH 2017 meeting at Asilomar. Registration is open and many classes have filled. There are a few open classes, one involving spinning.  She announced that the 2018 Area 4 Conference will be cancelled due to the HGA national meeting [CONVERGENCE]  being scheduled in Reno in July, 2018. Area 4 is in the same area as Reno.

Treasurer Pam says that individual dues of $25 are welcome at any time, especially now. We have about 35 members.

Announcements include: Mayan Handweavers this weekend in Berkeley. Moraga’s Hacienda Holiday show the first weekend in December has several of our members participating. Reba announced she will teach 4 weaving classes thru Walnut Creek “Civic Arts” with registration starting Dec. 5. Don’t forget our December Holiday pot luck at Vilija’s with our sheep ornament exchange. This Saturday day meeting will be our monthly meeting.

Future programs include: Roy Clemes working more with us and our electric carders for guild use. Carolyn Greenwood will be offering a 6 hour workshop January 27-28 on spinning and hand painted roving. Wendy has the signups, so contact her if you need information about attending. Amy is hosting a welcome evening on Thursday evening prior.  Wendy was not present, so contact her directly for more information. Charlene Woodcock will present a program in February.

Will Taylor mentioned this is the 20^th anniversary year of Spinning at the Winery. He asked for any ideas of ways to make this special and celebrate. He also mentioned the Annual Holiday show at the Crockett Train museum on Dec. 10-11 from 10-4. They also have a new web site: http://cttom.org

Doris gave a short presentation on her recent journey into the fiber community starting with Jacob fiber. She offered one ounce balls of Jacob top that she had prepared for each member using her new combs and hackle. There was also a handout sheet about Jacob sheep. Doris also showed the knitted shawl prepared from blended colors of Laurie from Meredian Jacobs. She then introduced Robin Lynde of Meredian Jacobs. Robin gave a wonderful presentation about her business as a shepherd with a herd of 60, land manager, partner in agribusiness, member of Farm Club, fiber store owner presenting her own weaving and spinning products while being off the main drag of shoppers. She has a blog, her dog’s blog, Newsletter, Facebook, Ravelry, Instagram and the Fibershed website.  She hosts Spinners Day out on Fridays, Third Friday Evenings, Shearing Day on Feb. 5, first lambing due date is Feb. 28 with 48 bred ewes. April is Meet the Sheep, October is Hug a Sheep day. Robin brought skeins, pelts, ponchos and small blankets as examples. Her dedication to her business is astounding.

DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR
2016

• Dec. 17, Treadles' Holiday Party 

2017

• Jan 2, Sheila O'Hara talk at Valley Stitchers in Pleasant Hill. [Info below]
• Jan. 24, Treadles Meeting, Roy Clemes [date change - Tuesday]
• Jan 26, 27, 28, Greenwood Fiberworks Spinning Workshop. [Info below]
• Feb. 22, Treadles Meeting. On the usual Wednesday. Charlene Woodcock:  Jolom Mayaetik: Mayan weavers cooperative of Chiapas
• March 22, Treadles Meeting, [One week early because of Library Book Sale]
• May 4 - 7, CNCH Conference at Asilomar (link on the right)

GREENWOOD FIBERWORKS SPINNING WORKSHOP

"Spinning Painted Rovings for Deliberate Color Effect"

Jan 26, Thursday night 6-8pm, Fiber Preview at Amy's house with light appetizers and beverages to accompany the fiber preview, All participants welcome

Jan. 27, Friday 10am - 5pm

Jan 28, Saturday, 10am - 5pm

Both workshops will be identical, pick the day you can attend. Workshop will be at Amy's house in Pleasant Hill.

$45 per student plus $24 supply fee

$25 deposit holds your position in class. Contact Wendy to get on the list.

SHEILA O'HARA TALK AT VALLEY STITCHERS ON JAN. 2, 2017

 

Sheila is a weaver of stunning landscapes, dancing sheep, and many other fiber fantasies. She has been weaving since 1976, gradually progressing to working on a jacquard loom. Her weavings can now be much more detailed, with some being photo realistic such as "Pomo Girl" pictured here. Her "Dancing Sheep" have been perennial favorites of weavers for a long time. Sheila will talk about her life in weaving, her inspirations and her process. She is a great, entertaining speaker.

When:  Jan. 2, 2017, meeting begins at 10 am [doors open at 9:30]

Where:  Faith Lutheran Church, 50 Woodsworth Lane, Pleasant Hill

$5 entry for non-members

DUES FOR OUR GUILD
If you have not paid the $25 dues for the year, which began in August, please make sure to get a check to Pam. The guild offers quite a bit while trying to keep the dues affordable. Please make sure you have paid. 

At the beginning of the new year, if you do not get the notification that the blog for January is up, you have not paid your dues for the year. Among a few other things, this means you will not be able to participate in in the spinning workshop above nor our annual May dye day nor have access to any of the guild equipment and DVDs. WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU! 



PRE-CHRISTMAS ENCOUNTER

Talk about good luck. I saw Vixen and Comet while they were in Indiana for a visit during Thanksgiving. Here they are resting up for the big day on Christmas Eve.

CHRISTMAS END NOTE FROM JUNIOR:

Textile Testing Process in a Third Party Lab

Textile Testing is an Important Part for a Textile Company
as they need a quality certificate to export their Textile or Garment Products.
It’s a Buyer requirement that the products they buy from different Garment
Companies should meet their product criteria and quality. So here the question
arises, where and how the products should be tested. Is it in the In-house lab
of Manufacturing Company

Concept Development of Mercerization with Different Parameter and Comparison

Concept Development of Mercerization with Different Parameter and Comparison

Abu Sufian
Senior Executive
Bachelor of Science in Textile Engineering
Square Textile Limited.
Vhaluka, Mymensingh, Bangladesh
Email ID: abusufian.tex.cu@gmail.com



ABSTRACT
Mercerization
parameters as consistent temperature, alkali concentration, and
tension were different, which play the