NIFT to set up ten more Design Resource Centres across various cities

Making a vast repository of handloom designs and resources available to students, designers and weavers. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) will be setting up design Design Resource Centres (DRCs) in various cities.

These centres are being set up at weavers’ service centres in Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kannur, Indore, Nagpur, Meerut, Bhagalpur and Panipat so that students, designers and weavers can develop and improvise their products as per market demands.

As per the textile ministry, over a time period, a large number of handloom designs and samples have been gathered by such design centres which already exist at weavers’ service centres (WSCs) in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Jaipur and Varanasi.

Mumbai, Chennai and Varanasi are the first cities where these centres were initially set up in 1956, then by and by activities expanded to cover other aspects of handloom textiles, and these were then re-designated as WSCs.

With MoU being signed with several designers, plans are afoot to engage designers of repute and attach them to individual weaver clusters to contribute towards design innovation, training and improve marketability of the handloom products.

Cover image by NIFT