Solapur Chaddar and Terry Towel Weaving: India's Linen Heritage

Solapur is India's most important centre for cotton chaddar (bed cover) and terry towel weaving, a handloom heritage that evolved from 19th-century cotton trade infrastructure. Solapur's chaddar, characterised by thick cotton weave with traditional border designs, is used across India as a bed cover and is associated with funeral rites (used as shroud or ritual offering). The Solapur Chaddar and Terry Towel industry employs over 50,000 weavers organised in cooperative and private units. Traditional Solapur chaddars featured red-black border designs on white cotton ground, woven on power-assisted or manual pit looms. Terry towels (bath towels) produced in Solapur's cooperative mills are of international quality and exported to Europe and the Gulf. The Solapur Chaddar received a GI tag in 2017. The Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Vस्त्र Utpadak Sangh and the Solapur City Cooperative Textiles Federation are the major organised sector bodies.