he hand-woven woollen shawls with geometric or colourful motifs of Himachal Pradesh are famous all around the country. So are the famous Himachali topis and scarves! However, despite the popularity of these hand-woven products, the weavers are finding it extremely difficult to survive.
While the demand for hand-woven Himachali products remains sufficient, the rise in machine-made products is now dominating the markets. The tourists want to buy authentic hand-woven Himachali woollens but most of the time they find themselves getting tricked into buying machine-made woollens. The worst part is the tourists are made to believe that these clothes are hand-woven and they end up paying a hefty amount in the process! This does not help the tourists nor the handloom weavers.
