Naga Textiles and Beyond

Nagaland is blessed with a rich traditional textile heritage which needs to be preserved at all cost. This heritage has a peculiar story of its own to tell and should be told and retold to all naga generations to come. All the tribes of Nagaland have their own unique textile heritage which are vibrant and beautiful and a real treat to the beholders eyes. These very special heritage which has been passed on to us by our forefathers needs our love and respect. Only with respect, the need for preservation will arise. The present generation has a very important duty to preserve and promote it, without which our textiles will die out and in the process  not only our identity but the coming generations identity will be lost forever.

TRADITIONAL LOIN LOOM WEAVE:
The age old practise of traditional weaving in loin loom is still very much in practise in Nagaland. Our unique textiles are woven tediously which is very time consuming, but the end result is so perfect and beautiful which cannot be compared with any other type of weaving. The traditional practise of weaving which is practised by all naga tribes should continue for making certain type of designs, eg: By changing the yarn count beautiful items of accessories and soft home furnishings can be produced for niche market both domestic and export market. It has become very urgent to create a market for our loin loom weavers as a very large section of weavers has given up weaving and moved on as they see no future prospects.

FLY SHUTTLE LOOM:
The fly shuttle loom which is a replacement of the traditional loom is one of the greatest invention of the industrial revolution. It was designed for the broad loom to save labour over the traditional process. It allowed a single weaver to weave much wider fabrics and also hundreds of metres of fabric in much less time. It can also be mechanised allowing for automatic looms. The time has come for our weavers to learn the use of the fly shuttle loom urgently if we want to compete commercially. The traditional naga design motifs can be incorporated in the fly shuttle weaves by the use of dobby and jacquard designs. This process involve pre punched designs on a continues role of paper, which is attached to the fly shuttle machine. These jacquard and dobby machines must be chosen according to commercial requirements. It is not economical to purchase jacquard machine if one can do with a dobby mechanism as it is more costly and require high skilled mechanism.

PRESERVATION AND PROMOTION:
The best and only way to preserve naga textiles is to promote it on a war footing without any delay. Any more delay will result in no more weaver and no more production. Commercialization is the need of the hour. Naga textiles specially naga shawls and naga bags are in huge demand but we have not been able to catch the market due to high price and little production. These products should and must be woven by the use of fly shuttle loom which can very easily replicate original naga design and mass produced. The Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation has a very important role to play as a marketing agency. Its role is to give the market feedback to the cluster of weavers and SHG groups to make the kind of products that are in market demand. The engagement of a Textile Designer who understand the market and price logistics is a must to intervene with weavers. In this modern age where the market is very competitive, we have to make unique designs that will stand out. This is the only way to move forward in order to preserve our vast textile heritage, without which it will die out. The time has come for educated creative naga youth to get into the textile field and promote it in the right manner.

DIVERSIFICATION:
The textile products has to be diversified in tune with the changing times. New product range needs to be developed using new technology. Traditional loin loom weaves need to be encouraged but products need to improve in quality and design. We can produce very high quality soft home furnishing range, eg: cushion covers, runners, throws etc by using cotton and eri silk yarn for Europe, America and Japan which are very high niche markets. This will keep our weavers occupied for the whole year. The fly shuttle which can produce running fabrics in tons by dobby design application can be used for home furnishings like curtains, bedspreads, school uniforms, dress materials etc which are in high demand all over India.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT (USP)
It will be very important to bring out a uniform set of designs which buyers both domestic and international will be able to identify Nagaland with. This will be our unique selling point.eg: naga bags, naga shawls, soft furnishings can be our USP to be produced on a large scale so that people all over the world will know the product is from Nagaland.

YARN DEPOT AND DYEING UNIT:
For the production of textiles on a commercial level, dyeing and yarn depot is a must without which the whole project will fail. Natural grey yarn must be bought at mill gate price. A yarn depot set up in each and every district so that weavers dont have to travel long distance to procure yarn at extra cost. A dyeing unit must be attach to the yarn depot so that weavers can dye according to requirements. Chemical dyes can be used for local needs for its colour fastness and longevity but for special orders and exports use of natural dyes will be necessary.

The above sums up my ten years of research and development of Naga textiles. My vision about naga textile heritage is very clear as I have been through the journey and I want to reach out to each and every naga weaver because I understand your plight and together we will travel this journey. I sincerely ask the Govt. of Nagaland we are still a very young nation with so many obstacles on the journey, but this journey called naga textile Heritage has a very bright future and please do not kill it by your short sightedness. If Govt sincerely wants to promote this sector it will have to implement all viable Ministry of Textile projects honestly that are meant for our weaver community

Kos Zhasa
Fashion And
Textile Designer