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A group of women sport Udupi sari.
| Photo Credit: PHOTO COURTESY: Kadike Trust, Karkala
Four more weavers service cooperative societies in the coastal belt which are into weaving handloom saris have obtained the authorisation certificate to use the Geographic Indication (GI) tag for Udupi sari.
With this, five weavers societies are now allowed to use the GI tag of Udupi sari. It is expected to boost the recognition of Udupi sari further.
The four societies are Padupanamboor Primary Weavers Service Cooperative Society Ltd., Haleyangady; Udupi Primary Weavers Service Cooperative Society Ltd., Udupi; Shivalli Primary Weavers Service Cooperative Society Ltd., Aadi Udupi and Brahmavara Primary Weavers Service Cooperative Society Ltd., Brahmavara.
According to Mamatha Rai, president, Kadike Trust, a non-government organisation based at Karkala, which is the promoter of Udupi sari, it was in 2016 that the Udupi sari received GI tag. But none of the weavers cooperative societies that produce Udupi sari obtained the authorisation certificate for using the GI tag.
In 2019, the trust initiated the process of obtaining GI authorisation for all weavers societies that produce Udupi sari.
Talipady Primary Weavers Service Cooperative Society Ltd., Kinnigoli, became the first authorised user of the GI tag for Udupi sari.
“GI authorisation will bring more support and recognition for Udupi sari and its weavers,” she said and added that “now, the five societies can use the GI logo in their labels while selling their saris.“
“Our thanks to Prashanth Kumar, senior Examiner of Trade Marks and GI, Geographical Indication Office, Chennai, for his support and Prabhavati Rao, Facilitator, IP initiatives, VTPC, Bengaluru, for guidance,” Ms. Rai said.
The five societies have 63 weavers. The trust arranged training programmes for weavers with the help of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
According to the trust, the Udupi sari is woven using the best quality single ply combed cotton yarns for both warp and weft. Artificial zari or cotton yarns are used to create design in body, border and pallu portion using extra weft technique.
The sari has plain or checked design in the body and dobby or plain design in the border. Light shades are used for the body, bright and contrast colours for the border and pallu.
The body of the sari is a simple plain weave. Extra warp patterns are woven on the border and pallu using dobby mechanism. In some saris, small butta (motifs) designs are created on the pallu and body of the sari with/without dobby mechanism using extra weft techniques.
“Using pearl kind of lines known as warp rib weave on the pallu is another striking feature of Udupi sari,” said Ms. Rai.
