1 October 2026 · From the field · 1 min read
A powerloom saree can look like a handloom in a photograph. In your hands it cannot. Here are the five checks we use, none of which takes more than a few seconds.
On a handloom the extra weft threads are cut and left as short floats on the back. It looks slightly untidy. A powerloom carries those threads continuously or trims them mechanically, so the reverse is suspiciously neat. Neatness on the back is the single most reliable tell.
Count the picks across a few inches of plain ground. A hand-thrown weft varies; a machine does not. If the ground is perfectly even over six yards, a machine made it.
Handloom selvedges are formed by the shuttle turning at the edge, so they are slightly thicker and a little uneven. Powerloom edges are cut clean and identical down the length.
Where a handloom border meets the body there is a gradual transition, because two sets of threads are being negotiated by hand. A powerloom border stops abruptly.
This is not a fabric test, but it is the decisive one. A seller who buys from a cluster can tell you the cluster, the technique and usually the household. A seller who cannot is either several steps removed from the loom or selling you a powerloom.
The Handloom Mark helps, but it is not sufficient on its own. Ask the question and see whether the answer has any detail in it.
Every piece we sell ships with a making record: the cluster, the technique, the days on the loom and the number of hands.