Ludhiana Woollen Blanket Weaving Cooperative

Ludhiana's handloom and power-loom sector produces woollen blankets, shawls, and stoles using imported Australian merino and domestic Bikaneri wool on draw-loom frames in cooperatives in the Guru Nanak Dev Textile Colony. Weavers produce twill-weave blankets in traditional checks and plaids as well as custom designs for the defence forces and railway supply contracts. The blanket-weaving cooperative movement in Ludhiana dates to the 1950s when the government helped Partition-displaced weavers from Lyallpur and Sialkot establish weaving units, preserving skills that might otherwise have been lost.