Our Story

Musiri is a Historical city situated on the banks of the river Cauvery in the district of Trichy, Tamil Nadu. The city was ruled by The Chola king Musukundan and named after him as “Musukundapuri” in late 10th Century and was derived later as Musiri. Saliyar Chettair community maintained their tradition of handloom weaving generation after generation.

Musiri is predominantly a cluster of weavers who hail from low-income families and mostly weave cotton sarees or veshti (dhotis). Alike most other weaving clusters in the country, here too, the occupation is a family tradition where the art of weaving has been passed down the generations, therefore, the entire family is involved in the weaving process. In fact, children start weaving as early as at the age of 10. Women in the households spend about three to four hours separating and spinning the thread while men work on the loom for about eight hours a day. Producing a simple saree or three dhotis takes about two to three days. In the end the weaver ends up earning a meagre wage from middlemen due to exploitation and lack of awareness.

Musiri is a project initiated by DEF in partnership with Mphasis to digitally empower the weaver community of the region in order to bring them out of poverty & information darkness to lead them towards better livelihood opportunities.

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Community Information and Resource Centre (CIRC):

The Community Information and Resource Centre in Musiri spread digital literacy and provide access to information to community members. The main aim of the CIRC is to promote diversity, inclusivity, sustainability, protect the environment, heritage and culture besides other things.

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Digital Designing and Archiving

Digital design training through CAD/CAM empowers weavers to introduce modern touch to the traditional designs, ensure product diversification and global market access. It will also enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the weaver community. DCDP also aims at developing the interest of the youth through digital literacy workshops, introducing modern designing techniques on computers, creating fresh product range for Musiri silk and other interventions so that youth migration can be reduced and more weavers can be prepared for the future. Thereby the traditional art-form can thus be preserved.

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Capacity Building Training

Musiri is located in Tiruchirappalli, one of the oldest inhabited city in Tamil Nadu. The earliest settlement dates back to the second millennium BC. The town is surrounded by rich architectural sites including temples, residential palaces, and old architectures. It is blissful for heritage and craft lovers.

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Entrepreneurship Development

The CIRC in Musiri also provides assistance in developing entrepreneurial skills. Musiri is located in midst of hustling bustling weaving communities and other small-scale rural livelihoods. In order to support number of small scale rural businesses, we provide trainings and other supportive material for them to flourish.

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Wireless Network Development

Wireless Network for Communities (W4C) provides last mile connectivity to people in Musiri block enabling them to stay connected worldwide. Wireless specifically in weaving clusters provides weavers a scope to develop their businesses online through e-commerce and social media.

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Handloom Tourism

Musiri is located in Tiruchirappalli, one of the oldest inhabited city in Tamil Nadu. The earliest settlement dates back to the second millennium BC. The town is surrounded by rich architectural sites including temples, residential palaces, and old architectures. It is blissful for heritage and craft lovers.

Our Products

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Conscious Clothing

Every product is hand woven in Musiri. Many of our products are made from organic cotton and all of them are 100% cotton. Only natural dyes are used for all weaving.

Skillfully Crafted

Each weaver spends hours and hours, dedicated to bring out the personality of their designs into their weaves. The diligence of Musiri weavers is remarkable.

Lovingly Hand woven

Each fabric that is spun out of the loom comes with the happiness and love of carrying forward the art of handloom weaving. Hope we bring a smile into your life as well.

Comfort and Quality

The combination of 100% handwoven and 100% pure cotton makes all our weaves smooth and comfortable. We only use natural dyes and many of our products are made from organic cotton.

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