A variety of saris and dress materials displayed at the silk expo. Pictures by Sanjeeb Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 23: A six-day exhibition-cum-sale of an exquisite range of silk garments began at city hotel yesterday.

A variety of garments with ethnic and contemporary patterns attracted a lot of people, mostly women, at the Silk Mark Expo.

The expo has a wide range of collection of handloom saris made of the four natural varieties of silk – mulberry that is reared domestically, and tussar, eri and muga silk which are reared outdoors.

“India is the only country that produces all the four varieties of natural silk and ranks second in the world in production of silk. But silk should be bought in its purest form,” said nodal officer of the Silk Mark Organisation of India R. Bhatacharjee. The Central Silk Board has organised the event.

“Through the expo we are trying to let consumers know the difference between pure silk and the spurious varieties. Each item sold here has a Silk Mark tag to endorse the purity of the product,” he added.

With more than 30 stalls, the expo displays different weaving patterns from states such as Orissa, Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and so on. The patterns vary from ikkat and tie and dye of Orissa and Pochampally, Pashmina, Banarasi brocades and tanchui, kancheepuram wedding saris, ornamental baluchari and kantha saris of West Bengal to south silk handloom.

The saris have tribal prints in blocks as well as colourful printed works in blue, golden, red, black, green and white. Thick stripes and circles give a stylish look to some saris while some have intricate designs for the pallu.

“Tussar saris have a special feel and so do have munga saris. Both give a classic look,” said a customer R. Bhattacharjee. “Its really tempting to see such brilliant designs here. I could not resist buying a couple of stoles,” said a student Binita.

Other than saris, there are suit pieces, dupattas, stoles, scarves, hand bags, kurtas for both men and women, shirts, furnishings like carpets and cushion covers.

Even mobile covers are available at the expo. The products start at Rs 300 for handbags and stoles while for saris and dress material the range begins at Rs 1,200. There also kiosks at the expo that show forming of cocoons by silk worms. A number of varieties of cocoons produced in Orissa are on display at the kiosk of the Regional Tasar Research Station (RTRS), Baripada.

“Orissa has a wide variety of eco-races of silkworm like Sukinda, Jata, Nalia, Bogai and Modal, the best among all eco-races in the world,” said scientist at RTRS Alok Sahay. “Most of these are found in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar. RTRS is working on special programmes to conserve these races,” he added. The expo, organised by the ministry of textiles under Govt. of India, has been held at 17 cities and will be held at 16 more cities across the country. Here, it is on till September 27.