Pochampally Sarees

Pochampally sarees are the famous sarees woven in Pochampally, a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Pochampally is the well known brand in south india because of its quality. These sarees are world famous because of its unique design and colour combination.

Fabric
The saree is woven in hand woven cotton and silk fabric. Pochampally ikats can be differentiated from their cousins in Orissa by their feel. Pochampally cloth is smoother than the flannelly Orissa cloth and not quite as heavy.

The Process
There are about 5000 handloom weavers in Pochampally who create sarees in traditional ikat work. This saree is known for its unique design. The ikat weaves involve the yarn being dyed first, with each strand dyed on the basis of the final pattern that has been decided. This means that everything has to be very precise and requires the skills of true artists. This method is very similar to the tie-and-dye method, the real difference being that here the yarn is dyed before weaving a rather complex procedure.

The famous Pochampally ikat tie-and-dye saree has won Intellectual Property Rights protection. It is the first traditional Indian craft to receive this status of geographical branding. The design won protection in the Geographical Indications category. This will protect the pochampally handloom saree from unfair competition and counterfeit.

Design and Colour
One of the reasons why pochampally sarees find a better market in India and abroad is, the weavers use modern synthetic colors instead of the expensive vegetable dyes for dying, thereby not only bringing down the cost of production, but also getting a chance to be more creative by trying out complex designs. Since the 1960s pochampally ikat-weavers were influenced by the patola designs of Gujarat. Modern ikats of Andhra Pradesh, which are simple and use at the most three colors and purely geometrical designs, are of good quality and sell competitively.