Two hundred and fifty-nine terms drawn from the Indian craft tradition — from staple length to korvai, from harda to kadhua, from petni to zari.
This guide puts all those words in one place. It’s organized by category, not alphabetically — so you can read it top to bottom and get comfortable with each section. The categories follow how the cloth actually gets made — from fibers and yarns, through weaves, looms, and finishes, into dyes, mordants, and prints, and on to embroidery and zari. The final sections cover quality marks, saree-specific terms, and the people and places who hold the craft.
Definitions are kept short — one or two sentences each. Any one section gives you enough to describe a piece, write a caption, and answer a customer’s question with real knowledge — whether you’re talking about something from Banaras, Kanchipuram, Ajrakhpur, or Paithan.
The starting point of every textile. Natural fibers, regenerated cellulosics, and synthetics — each with its own quality vocabulary.
| Variety | Origin | Staple | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suvin | India · CICR Coimbatore | 35–45 mm | Premium ELS |
| Giza | Egypt | 35–45 mm | Premium ELS |
| Supima / Pima | USA · trademarked | 34–42 mm | Premium ELS |
| Sea Island | Caribbean · rare | 38–50 mm | Heritage ELS |
| DCH-32 | South India | 30–34 mm | Long staple |
| Shankar-6 | India · mainstream | 27–30 mm | Medium-long |
How fineness is measured, how yarns are constructed, and how spinning systems transform fiber into yarn.
Twist is what makes a yarn behave like a yarn. Direction, count, and balance together determine hand, drape, and durability.
How warp and weft interlace, how patterns get into fabric, and the specific techniques that define Indian weaving traditions.
From the pit handloom to the high-speed air-jet, looms vary by power source, speed, and the mechanism that carries the weft.
| Loom | Class | Picks/min | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takli / Charkha | Hand | — | Spinning, not weaving — included for scale |
| Pit loom | Handloom | 20–40 | Pit + treadle, traditional India |
| Fly shuttle | Handloom | 60–100 | Cord-flung shuttle (1733) |
| Conventional powerloom | Power | 120–250 | Motorized shuttle |
| Rapier | Power · shuttleless | 400–700 | Flexible rod carries weft |
| Projectile | Power · shuttleless | 500–900 | Bullet-like grippers |
| Air-jet | Power · shuttleless | 1,500+ | Fastest; air carries weft |
| Water-jet | Power · shuttleless | 1,200+ | Synthetic fibers only |
Finishes change the look, hand, or performance of fabric without changing its structural composition. The last 10–30% of cost, and the first thing the customer touches.
Synthetic dyes are matched to fiber chemistry. Natural dyes draw on a centuries-old Indian palette of plants, minerals, and insect-derived compounds.
| Fiber | Dye class | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton, linen, viscose | Reactive, Vat, Direct, Sulfur | Cellulose chemistry |
| Silk, wool, pashmina | Acid, Vat (indigo) | Protein fiber |
| Polyester | Disperse (incl. sublimation) | Hydrophobic; no other class works |
| Nylon | Acid (acts protein-like) | Polyamide |
| Acrylic | Basic / cationic | Anionic dye sites |
| Any natural fiber | Natural dyes + mordant | Mordant bridges dye to fiber |
Mordants are the molecular bridge between dye and fiber. Fastness ratings measure how well the resulting color survives wear, wash, and light.
| Rating | Wash & rub (1–5) | Light (1–8) | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heavy color loss | Fades in hours | Reject |
| 2 | Considerable loss | Fades quickly | Reject |
| 3 | Noticeable | Moderate | Domestic only |
| 4 | Slight | Good | Export ready |
| 4–5 / 5 | Minimal / none | Excellent | Premium |
| 6–8 | — | Outdoor-grade light | Specialist |
Six major categories — block, screen, digital, discharge, pigment, and the resist family — span the spectrum from hand heritage to industrial scale.
Each major Indian embroidery tradition is a distinct regional vocabulary — of stitches, materials, motifs, and the communities that practice them.
Zari is the metallic thread used in Indian brocade. Real zari is gold-plated silver, not solid gold — a critical distinction that drives both authenticity and pricing.
| Tier | Core | Wire | Coating | Behavior over time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asli / Kalabattu | Silk | Silver | Gold-plated | Holds color; certified by BIS |
| Adha | Silk | Silver | None | Develops soft patina |
| Naqli | Cotton or poly | Copper | Electroplated | Tarnishes; greens with age |
| Polyester | Polyester | — | Metallized film | Plastic sheen; brittle on creases |
The certifications and standards that actually mean something in Indian textile retail — and the global benchmarks for organic and safety claims.
The named parts of a saree, the motifs that recur across traditions, and the regional color palettes that signal place of origin.
Founders, communities, villages, and cooperatives — the people and places who hold the tradition.
Premium = ELS (≥34 mm staple) + micronaire 3.5–4.9 + SFI <8%. Suvin, Giza, Pima, Sea Island are the ELS tier.
Mulberry = global standard. Muga = Assam-only, strongest natural silk. Tussar = wild golden. Eri = peace silk.
True handloom has slightly irregular selvedge and uneven pick spacing. Look for the Handloom Mark and GI tag.
Asli zari = gold-plated silver on silk core. Look for BIS hallmark. Polyester-film zari is the most common “Banarasi” counterfeit.
Natural dyes have a vegetal smell when wet. Edge dye-bleed is uneven. Indigo crocks slightly on a damp white cloth.
Do-rukha (both sides equally vivid) signals mordant-printed and madder-dyed work — not screen-printed. 14–21 days of stages.
Korvai = separate border warp. Body-pallu petni is a physical knot line at the transition row. Polyester “Kanchi” has no knot.
Bakhia = shadow work stitched on the reverse. If the shadow shows through the cloth, the work is hand-done, not machine.