Handloom Cotton Dhurrie

Details

A flat-woven cotton dhurrie from Panipat, Haryana, at a measured 1800 GSM, with the Handloom Mark on every piece. Powerloom cloth sold as handloom is one of the largest frauds in Indian textiles, which is why the Government of India created the Handloom Mark and put it under the Textiles Committee, and it is the only thing that settles the question on a floor covering where the weave is too coarse for anyone to read by eye. The second fraud is inside the weft. A dhurrie is judged by squeezing and lifting it, and jute or polypropylene cord in the core of a thick cotton weft adds bulk and weight at a fraction of the price, is invisible once beaten down, and rots or melts differently from the cotton around it. The third is crocking, because a dhurrie is walked on with bare feet and a dye that has not been properly fixed transfers onto feet and onto a pale floor.

• Handloom Mark on every piece, so powerloom cloth cannot be sold from this listing
• 100 percent cotton by microscopy, warp and weft both, no jute and no polypropylene in the weft core
• 1800 GSM measured, which makes the weight per size arithmetic rather than a claim: about 2.43 kg at 90 x 150, 3.89 kg at 120 x 180 and 6.48 kg at 150 x 240
• Rubbing fastness grade 4 dry and grade 3 to 4 wet, ISO 105-X12, so it does not crock onto a light floor
• Wash fastness grade 4, ISO 105-C06, and azo-free below 30 mg per kg on the 24 restricted amines
• Yarn-dyed before weaving, so there is no surface dye to bleed off
• Reversible, 6 mm thick, with hand-knotted and trimmed fringes at both ends
• A flat weave slides on polished stone or tile, so use an underlay. It sheds a little cotton lint for the first few weeks. And because a person beat the weft in, the length can vary by up to 2 cm and the pick density shifts slightly along the piece.