CHINNALAPATTI COTTON SUNGUDI SAREES MANUFACTURER FORUM

Our group is based over in the Dindigul district, specifically near the Nadupatti post office in the Ramanathapuram Pirivu area. We are a forum of manufacturers who all work on Chinnalapatti cotton sungudi sarees. If you know these sarees, you know they involve a lot of tying and dyeing. Our workspace at 12/279 A is often full of bundles of cloth being prepped for the dye vats. It is a traditional process that hasn't changed much over the years. We spend a lot of time outside because the sarees need to dry in the sun to get the colors right. The weather around Dindigul can be quite hot, which is actually good for the drying process. We are a collection of local makers rather than one big boss running everything. We share ideas and sometimes help each other out when there is a big order to finish. The floors are usually stained with different colors from the dyes we use. It isn't a fancy setup. There are stacks of cotton sarees everywhere, and the smell of the dye is quite strong. We just focus on keeping the sungudi tradition going in our own way. We don't have a marketing team or anything like that; we just rely on the quality of the knots and the colors. It’s hard work on the fingers, but seeing the finished sarees makes it worth the effort. It takes a long time to finish just one piece properly.