Chanderi Silk Cotton Dupatta

Details

A dupatta in Chanderi, 2.5 m by 40 in finished, 70 GSM, handwoven in Chanderi town, Madhya Pradesh, on a mulberry silk warp with a fine cotton weft: 45 percent silk and 55 percent cotton by weight, tested. A silk-cotton is a ratio, and a listing that will not print the ratio is hiding one. Chanderi Fabric is a registered Geographical Indication under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, which means the name belongs to cloth handwoven in Chanderi and to nothing else. It gets used on three things that are not. The first is powerloom cloth run in a Chanderi look elsewhere, which is what the Handloom Mark answers. The second is polyester standing in for the silk warp, which is where cheap chanderi gets its glassy shine, and which is what the Silk Mark answers. The third is the buti: in real Chanderi the motif is woven in thread by thread on an extra weft, and in the imitation it is screen-printed onto plain cloth. Turn the piece over. A woven buti has floats and thread ends on the reverse, a printed one is a flat picture. Then the zari, which is assayed here: a copper core with a real silver coat, against the metallised polyester film that goes black in a year.

• Handwoven in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, inside the GI registered area
• Handloom Mark on the cloth and Silk Mark on the silk content
• Mulberry silk 45 percent and cotton 55 percent by weight, tested, no polyester
• Buti woven in on an extra weft, never screen-printed
• Zari assayed for silver over a copper core, no metallised plastic film
• Azo-free reactive dye on the cotton weft, below 30 mg per kg on the 24 restricted amines
• Chanderi is fine cloth and behaves like it. It snags on a ring or a watch strap, it wants a low iron under a press cloth, and it should be hand washed alone or dry cleaned.