Ministry of Textiles, on 18th April, 2017 unveiled the first ever global B2B Textile and handicrafts event in the national capital of India—‘Textiles India 2017’ at the Crafts Museum. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Textiles under the guidance of Minister of Textiles, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani and Minister of State, Shri Ajay Tamta. The representation of the textile saga of leading craftsman and fashion designers is being celebrated through the commencement of the event, bringing forward the inspiring vision of the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi – “From Farm to Fiber, Fiber to Factory, Factory to Fashion, Fashion to Foreign.”
The event is going to be a turning point for the Indian textile and handicraft sector by providing artisans the opportunity to exhibit the entire range of textiles from ‘Fibre to Fashion’, eventually being inaugurated by the Honourable Prime minister, Shri Narendra Modi. Aim behind the event being, making Indian textiles an annual destination for International buyers.
The event is scheduled to set in action from June 30th to July 2nd 2017 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. The event is expected to have more than 1,000 stalls with 15,000 domestic buyers and over 2,500 discerning International buyers, agents, designers, retail chains from across the world. The three-day event will include global conference on the last day with six themes to be chaired by concerned Union ministers and the Valedictory session presided over by the Union Finance Minister. Over 33 roundtables will be held on issues of concern for the various segments of textiles and handicrafts on the 2nd day i.e., 1st July, with prominent international speakers & industry leaders.
Many dignified personalities— political dignitaries, ambassadors of textile partner countries industrialists, industry associations, leading fashion and media houses, were seen making presence at the at event. Dr. Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Ayog, H.E. Lorenzo Angeloni, Ambassador of Italy, H.E. Mrs. Chitraganee Wagiswara, H.E. Ms Melba Pria, Ambassador, Mexico, H.E. Mr. Dalton Sembering, Ambassador, Indonesia, H.E. Mr. Cho Hyun, Ambassador, South Korea, Mr. Muzaffar Ali, and Mr. Tarun Tahiliani were to name a few.
Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani commented on the occasion saying, “The spectrum of Indian textiles is extremely diverse and its history is world renowned. Textiles India 2017 holds the promise of becoming a landmark annual trade event for the Indian textiles and apparel industry at the global level. With this curtain raiser, we are celebrating the significant achievements of our textile industry and the enormous promise of spectacular growth over the next few years. Today we applaud the community which manufactures the diverse fabrics, apparel and textiles in the country and creates handcrafted brilliance for the world to experience.”
A representation of artisans, weavers, emerging & established designers from across the country celebrated the special preview to Textiles India 2017. The fashion designers and craftsmen showcased the strength of the Indian textiles sector in Cotton, Silk, Wool, Woven & hand-printed, Embroidered as well as Modern & Futuristic textiles.
The Crafts Village was abounding the art of skilled weavers and craftsmen exhibiting vibrant and crafts and textiles of India. They also presented live demonstrations showcasing the potential of the Indian crafts and textiles for the international markets. The international delegates that attended the event were extremely astounded towards the attention paid to detail and incredible hand-work by the artisans. The different mediums and the award winning artisans are as below:
Carpet Weaving
Mr. Fakre Alam (Mirzapur)
White Metal work (Chitai)
Mr. Mohd. Yusuf (National Awardee)
Mr. Farooq Khan (National Awardee)
Barmer Embroidery
Mr. Makhna Ram
Wood Inlay
Mr. Firoz Khan (National Awardee)
Mr. Kamal Matharu (National Awardee)
Crewel Embroidery
Mr. Noor Mohd. Bhat, SRINAGAR (National Awardee)
The textile story was narrated through the works of industry fashioners—Abraham & Thakore, Anita Dongre, Anuj Bhutani, Anuradha Pegu, Amit Aggarwal, ChamanPremji, Good Earth, Hemant Agarwal, Kaleekal, Masaba Gupta, Madhu Jain, Manish Arora, Manish Malhotra, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Rahul Misra, Ritu Kumar, Rimzim Dadu, Rohit Bal, Sanjay Garg, Sabyasachi, Samant Chauhan, Shades of India – Mandeep Nagi, Sunita Shankar, Suket Dhir, Wendell Rodricks & Tarun Tahiliani.
