August 24, 2014
Tantuja to offer e-services from next month
Reputed for its exquisite collection of heritage textiles,the 60-year-old Tantuja – handloom weavers' co-operative under the West Bengalgovernment – will make its unique products available to global shoppers via itsmaiden e-commerce venture from September.
This would be the West Bengal government's first onlinetextile venture. In sync with sartorial trends, designers for the enterprisehave aesthetically incorporated a dash of neon into the indigenous fabricscrafted in Bengal's remote and ancient textile clusters, including thedistricts of Nadia (cotton from Shantipur, Phulia) and Murshidabad (asericulture hub).
The e-service will initially begin with 100-150 items,mainly sarees. A tie-up with an e-marketing firm is on the way and the expecteddate of launch is September 1. Connoisseurs will have access to the famedShantpuri-Phulia cotton sarees and Jamdani and Tangail six yard wonders inMurshidabad silk and cotton, among a plethora of others. The centuries-old artof weaving Jamdani has been declared by UNESCO as an Intangible CulturalHeritage of Humanity.
In addition to the earth-toned and pastel sarees adornedwith customary Kolki motif (an S-shaped design) so synonymous with Bengal andinspirations from nature (foliage, climbers and the banyan tree), the onlineshop will also include a few selections by Chief Minister Ms Mamata Banerjee.
A whole new range of pure silk kurtis will also be madeavailable online. So far in the last two years, Tantuja's products like stoles,scarves and kitchen linen have bagged export orders from European countrieslike Germany and France. The US also is on the list of clients, while Israeland Finland are the next in line. Domestically, it has been supplying weaves toKerala for the last three years. It will soon also tap into the Assam andAndhra Pradesh markets.
From the US and Germany Tantuja has received orders of $ 6,000.With the online service, it will increase the sales and local craftsmen whoseproducts sell the most will profit well.
