Jacquard weavers of Surat face stiff competition due to digital printed fabrics

Jacquard weavers of Surat, the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) hub are facing stiff competition and decrease in demand in domestic and international market due digital textile printed fabrics. The price of weaving jacquard fabrics in the domestic and international markets has also decreased from Rs 4 to Rs 16 per metre.

There are around one lakh jacquard machines and 90 percent of them are installed in the 1,000 weaving units in Sachin GIDC. Due to stiff competition, the 1,000-odd jacquard weavers in the city’s Sachin GIDC are forced to cut down production by observing a day’s closure on Saturday. They will be meeting again on May 15 to decide whether to close the units for two days a week to control overproduction.

Jacquard Weavers Association president Mahendra Ramoliya said that the jacquard fabric is facing stiff competition from digital textile fabrics. The digital prints were introduced in the market two years ago. Due to less demand, jacquard fabric inventors do not want to purchase fresh stock.

Ramoliya added that they have decided to bring down production of the fabrics in such a manner that workers are not affected. They need specialized workers to operate the highly modernized jacquard machines.

The jacquard is weaved on a loom having a jacquard attachment to control individual warps and is used for making brocades, tapestries and damasks. Fabrics of these type are costly because of the time and skill that go into making of jacquard cards, preparing the loom to produce a new pattern, and the slowness of the weaving operation. The jacquard weave usually combines two or more basic weaves, with different weaves used for the design and the background.