Manipur’s handloom satellites: how the valley’s looms orbit the world

Manipur’s valley districts run more handlooms per capita than any region in India — the loom is woven into the culture, and nearly every household has one.

A cooperative of women weavers has built an online storefront, a design catalogue and a quality mark, and the first export order — 400 phanek and shawls — left for Singapore this spring.

The challenge now is scale without dilution: ‘The machine can copy the pattern,’ one weaver said. ‘It cannot copy the weaver.’