The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Lace manufacturers wage a grim battle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 02, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Lace manufacturers wage a grim battle

G. Nagaraja

— Photo. M. Anil Kumar

Women needling lace products at Kalipatnam in Narsapur mandal of West Godavari district.

NARSAPUR (WEST GODAVARI): The cut-throat competition ushered in by globalisation seemingly fails to dishearten the women folks who made lace products a cottage industry in and around this sea-side town in West Godavari district. About 2 lakh women artisans are weathering many a storm to keep alive the aesthetic art .

Changing trends

According to Tangisetty Baby, president of West Godavari Lace Manufacturers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Federation, the products made in China are quite cheaper when compared to those made in India. “In China, the products are made by machines. However, in India, they are hand-crafted . Obviously, the cost of production is more in Indian products”, Baby explains while maintaining that it was very difficult to sustain in the field in the absence of any governmental intervention to help the women artists cope with competition. “ We will lose heavily if we are conventional when our customers are trendy”, says another member of the federation, Ande Lakshmi Satyamabha.

A recent survey reveals that the lace exports witnessed a sharp decline in the recent past mainly for want of ability for the women artisans to keep pace with the changing times with regard to designing.

The survival of the age-old handicraft depends on diversification and tapping the domestic market in view of the downward trend on the export front.

Sudheer, Project Coordinator, Lace Park, said training programmes were organised regularly for the lace workers on the latest trends in fabric designing in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIIFT) so as to help the artisans diversify from home furnishing to fabric products such as ladies garments, bangles, caps, belts, cell pouches and the other accessories.

During a visit to a cluster at Kalipatnam in Narsapur mandal, Surya Adilakshmi Rajeswari, a lace worker, expressed her desire to take her hand-made products to the overseas without any role by the middlemen.

“We can strike a fair deal for our products in the market only when there will be no middlemen”, she added.

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