Textiles — GI Products of India

What are textiles GI products?

Textile GI products are fabrics and garments whose weave, fibre or design belongs to a specific place. This catalogue lists silk saris such as Kanchipuram, Banarasi and Mysore silk, Muga and eri silks from the north-east, cotton and khadi cloth, and precious shawls such as Pashmina. Some are woven on pit looms in family homes, and the same skills have been passed down within weaver communities for generations.

Why a GI matters for textiles

Textiles are among the most imitated products in India, because a powerloom can copy a pattern in hours that a handloom weaver needs weeks to produce. A GI identifies the traditional technique and place, and registered weavers can use the mark to show that a piece is the real thing. It also gives weaver societies a way to act against sellers who use famous names on printed or machine-made cloth.

How to verify textiles products

When buying textiles, check the reverse of the fabric, ask whether it is handloom or powerloom and look for supporting marks such as the Silk Mark, the Handloom Mark and the GI logo. Compare weight and hand-feel with known genuine pieces, and treat very low prices for silk or zari work with caution. Buy from cooperatives, government emporia and established weavers wherever possible.

Using this section

Product pages in this category describe the loom techniques, the fibres and the identification tips that apply to each fabric. Browse by state to see how weaving clusters relate to one another, for example how Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Assam each built distinct silk traditions around local materials.