Our History
Background: During the British colonial rule in the 18th century, when Bengali muslin was traded throughout the world, Britain's own clothing manufacturers conspired against the Bengali weavers. They used to cut off their fingers of weavers and break their looms so that British-made cotton cloth from their mills would find a good market in India. William Bolts, a legendary merchant also noted in his book, 'Considerations on India Affairs', in 1772, that there were instances where 'thumbs were cut off' in order to stop the production of muslin.
History says that at the time, the weavers from Dhaka and Tangail escaped through the waterways and concealed themselves in different areas on the bank of Jamuna, for example—Belkuchi, Shahjadpur, Enayetpur of Sirajganj and Bera and Santhia of Pabna district. At one time, these absconded weavers started creating small weaving factories based on hand looms in different areas of Sirajganj. Gradually, these factories expanded, which resulted in today's massive handloom market-- 'Shahjadpur Taant Kaporer Hat', the biggest wholesale market of hand-loomed products in the country.
Presently, in Sirajganj, the areas noted for weaving industry are Shahjadpur, Ullapara, Chowhali (Enayetpur), Kazipur, Belkuchi and the Sadar upazila. The weavers are weaving clothes for example—sari (Jamdani, cotton Jamdani, cotton, silk, half silk, hand printed etc), three pieces, bed sheets, Lungi (traditional garment worn around the waist), Gamcha (a thin traditional cotton towel) and much more.
The sari designers are known as 'masters' and they create gorgeous designs both for the body and sidelines. After that, with the help of threads, dyes, machines and other necessary equipment, the weavers implement the intricate designs of their masters. The female members of the weaver families help their men with spinning threads with the wheels, or sometimes in weaving.
Problems working behind Weaving in Sirajganj: Presently, the use of hand looms are being gradually replaced by the power looms, as hand loom process is regarded as a laborious and time consuming one. The amount of sales has fallen to a great extent as the power looms' clothes are more durable than the hand looms. Moreover, now-a-days, Indian saris and dresses have been flooding most of our markets both in urban and rural areas, and that is regarded as the main competitor of our local weavers. Another added burden is the substantial price hike of the weaving supplies.There is no common brand to promote their products.
The small amount of money that the weavers earn through weaving is the only source of their livelihood. Also a large share of this small earning is used for the schooling of their children. However, the weavers of Sirajganj hope that if they get proper training for new and more attractive designs, soft loans with easy interest rate, more expanding export opportunity, uninterrupted electricity system and necessary government supports accordingly, this profession will be flourished more rapidly than ever, and the weavers will gain interest in this traditional job.
Journey to Eboshon: Considering this types of problems a world bank funded project named “Suatainable Enterprise Project” has been taken through PKSF by NDP to overcome the problems working behind the loom sector in Sirajganj. National Development Programme (NDP) is implementing “Improving the Quality of Traditional Bengali Clothing by reducing environmental consequences of Loom enterprises in Sirajganj” sub project Under SEP in Sirajganj Sadar, Kamarkhanda and Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj district. This 30 months (october 2020 – April 2023) sub project will support the achievement of the global goals of the main SEP project. The sub-project activities will be implemented in the business clusters of the “Loom” subsector to improve the overall business and environment of the microenterprises.
The goal of the sub project is to increase the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices by the loom enterprises to become environmentally friendly and sustainable. The project works on the capacity building of ME’s in the field of technical,fashion designing,business management ,adaption of environmental practices,micro credit support etc.They are the big sufferer because of their lack of knowledge in designing,market development,modern fashion,technical knowledge and so on.When they are in a big trouble for a long time to compete with advanced competitor(Indian,Pakistani dresses) in the market then SEP project took the responsibility of some micro-entrepreneurs to develop their all types of skill in weaving sector. Some selected micro-entrepreneurs received training on environmental and health safety in loom sectors,business management, certification on environment,product certification and many other capacity building training. Among these trainees 12 short listed micro-entrepreneurs have been selected for further advanced training based on dyeing(natural & vegetable),machine maintenance and modification for product diversification, fabric design,cutting,sewing etc. It was a tough task for them as they work in a traditional way from their childhood. Some of the technologies are totally new to them. But some enthusiastic people made it possible.Now these micro-entrepreneurs are producing diversified products. To promote this products produced through considering environmental consequences “Eboshon” has been launched. Now People of all over the country will get easy access to purchase and know the Bengali tradition,hard working behind the traditional products