Zooming prices of gold and silver have severely hit silk zari makers in India, the world’s largest consumer and second biggest producer.
?Gold prices have more than doubled in the past two years, but we could not hike prices of silk sari with original zari accordingly,? said Ravi of the Sangeetha Silk Twisting Unit near Bangalore.
With prices of gold and silver soaring alarmingly in the past two years, silk saris with second quality imitation and plastic zaris are flooding the market, trade sources said. The volumes of silk saris with original zari declined by more than 50% during that time, they said.
Historically, zari is a fine glittering silver or gold thread wire used as an embroidery material to obtain exquisite and intricate design on fabrics to enhance their grandeur and elegance.
It is also used for ornamentation in different applications. Zari takes different forms wherein silver or copper wire is wrapped around silk yarn or polyster followed by electroplating with gold solution in case of pure zari or with gold-like chemicals in case of artificial zari.
There are three types of zari–real, imitation and plastic. Real zari is made of flat silver wire electroplated with gold. Zari made from these precious metals is used in ceremonial saris priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 10 lakh per piece.
Imitation zari is made from copper wire while plastic zari is produced from chemically-coloured metallic yarn. In fact, zari is produced in more than 20 colours.
Silk saris are often decorated with silver mixed gold zari borders. There are famous designs in the silk clusters such as Kanchivaram, Dharmavaram, Banaras, Mysore, and Arani. Real zari-decorated silk saris have premium value in overseas markets, particularly the US.
According to a recent paper presented by the officials attached to state-owned Central Sericulture Research Technical and Training Institute (CSRTI), France, Japan and Germany are the only countries that manufacture zari other than India.
Earlier, more than 50 manufacturers used to make silk zari yarn in Surat. But, of late, the number has declined. Earlier, some zari manufacturers used Japanese silk, consuming around 8-10 tonne of raw silk. But, at present, only around 1,500 kg of domestic basin silk procured from Sidlaghatta in Karnataka per month is utilized.
In fact, at least 40 days are required to convert 2.5 kg of silk into zari yarn. Zari with a weight of 10 kg contains 7.5 kg of precious metals and 2.5 kg of silk.
According to Tamil Nadu Zari Ltd, a state government undertaking producing silk zari products, the standard specification for zari comprises 55%-57% of silver, 0.6% gold and 24% of silk.
With several sari makers coming out with imitation ‘zari’ saris, producers of sari with real zari are struggling to market their products.
Several leading players, including Karnataka Silk Industries Corp, which owns the famous ‘Mysore Silk’ brand, have started creating awareness among consumers on ‘real zari’ saris.