Two organisations in Chennai, the Shoe Design and Development Centre of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and the Central Footwear Training Institute (CFTI), are taking the lead in accessories development, bringing the footwear industry out of its caste confines as well as helping the communities that have traditionally been involved in it.

The CLRI Design Centre studio organised a special workshop named the `India Fashion Show', where artisans from Karnataka and Maharashtra were exposed to ideas from designer Shakti Girish and technical knowhow from Pratik Roy.

CLRI scientist in charge of workshop Mohammed Sadiq said the Indian Fashion Studio provided the leather, concepts and designs to make footwear for display at international expositions. Most of the items were Kolhapuris, to be exhibited at the GDS fair in Germany from Sept 14. The designs were Indian and cut by the men while women had embroidered them deftly. Buyers at the German fair are expected to select from the designs displayed in "ethnic wear" section and place orders. Two CLRI scientists and three of the artisans undergoing training at the studio workshop will be attending the Sept fair, Sadiq said. The other organisation that has been busy designing shoes is the Footwear Training Centre, set up in 1957 with a Ford Foundation grant to provide the cobbler community and all those practicing footwear-making in the traditional manner, training in the use of machines to make shoes. Modern hand tools and machinery in the small-scale sector was provided by the institute so that all those taking up thisprofession traditionally could be imparted equipment to upgrade their skills. Each year, as many as 40 students at this prestigious institute, belonging to the socially underprivileged Adi Dravidar community, are selected for training and sponsored by the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development Corporation.

The institute has trained seven batches, with more than 100 students in each batch, and offers a two-year full time course, `Diploma in Footwear Design and Production'. The course has been developed in collaboration with the Textile Institute of Britain, which offers a similar course in accessories design along with textile design. The organisation is, however, still awaiting approval by the All India Council for Technical Education, says CFTI director Prem Lal. The institute is continuing with its training programmes despite a funds crunch due to lack of accreditation with the AICTE, he says. A skills upgradation course, sponsored by the Directorate of Backward Communities and Most Backward Communities, is being initiated where traditional cobblers will be shown how to use their skills better. Eighty or more students will undergo six months of training at the institute. They will also undergo on-the-job training with leading footwear manufacturers in the city. Placement will be by the institute.

(IANS)