Kanchipuram Silk Sarees

About 75% of Kanchipuram's population is dependent on the Silk Saree industry, either directly or indirectly. Yet, the city does not manufacture Silk or any other raw material that goes into its silk sarees. The Silk industry is entirely made up of Handloom weavers and merchants.
The Kanchipuram Silk Saree is hand-woven with dyed silk yarn with interleaved designs made with 'Jari' - a Silk thread twisted with a thin Silver wire and then gilded with pure Gold. Technically, the silk thread used for weaving Kanchipuram Sarees is made up of three single threads twisted together. Hence, the Kanchipuram Silk Saree is usually stronger (and more expensive) than its counterparts from Arni, Dharmavaram, etc. However, the designs on the Saree itself are what brings it the fame. Simply, the Kanchipuram Saree is a fine piece of art.
Raw Silk for the sarees comes from several locations in the State of Karnataka. This raw silk is dyed in local units. The State of Gujarat holds a virtual monopoly in the manufacture of 'Jari'. Especially, the City of Surat in Gujarat is the main manufacturing center for 'Jari'.
Kanchipuram's reputation as a Silk weaving center dates from less than a few centuries ago. In the early days, the industry was owned by a few merchants who played the part of procuring sarees from the local weavers and selling them.This system had its own problems, mostly in the form of unjust compensation for the weavers.
In 1949, a Communist movement of the weavers took over this industry, and formed a Co-operative society under Mr. K.S. Parthasarathy, a Communist Leader. The society was called the "Kamatchi Amman Society", and had 79 members.The society brought a number of weavers under a protective umbrella and provided them with financial assistance and various welfare schemes.
This Co-operative movement gathered momentum. Today, there are 24 co-operative societies, of which about 18 are very large. Most of these societies are now run under the control of the Government of Tamilnadu.
The Kamatchi Amman Society itself has now grown to host about 2000 members, and is the biggest and most reputed society in the city.
The total number of weavers who work under the co-operative sector today is close to 50,000.
Some of the large societies in Kanchipuram are :
Kamatchi Amman Silk Society Arignar Anna Silk Society Kanchipuram Silk Society Murugan Silk Society Varadharaja Swamy Silk Society Pallavar Silk Society Tiruvalluvar Society
In the private sector, there are over 200 manufacturers in Kanchipuram alone. These private manufacturers procure sarees from independent weavers in Kanchipuram and export them to other cities in India as well as abroad. Some of the more famous ones are Sri Kumaran Silks, and Nalli Silks in Chennai.