Billing for your garment and cloth shop in Manipur
A phanek, an enaphi and a gift for the sister: each on a bill, each family's balance on a page.
Why a phanek counter must tell handloom from machine-made at a glance
The notice to Ima market shops, and the shop that must show its cloth
In November 2022 the Chief Minister told the shops of Ima market not to replace handmade traditional cloth such as phanek and enaphi with cheaper machine-made copies from outside the state. A shop that keeps both now has to show what it keeps. Customers who know the cloth will ask which is which. The answer should come from your record and not from a guess at the counter, because the shop with no record is the one that guesses.
The weaver's loom waits for her money
A weaver who has sold you a few shawls cannot buy yarn for the next ones until you pay. She comes on a day you are busy, asks for part of the money and walks away quietly if you cannot say how much is hers. At home the loom stands idle, waiting for that yarn.
Cloth cut to the length the family's own tailor asked for
In the feast weeks the counter has a queue of families wanting cloth cut to the length their own tailor asked for. Each family reads its lengths off a scrap the tailor wrote, and the queue waits while each one is worked out. Every length has to be measured and written, and the family at the end of the line is the one that waits longest.
From the weaver's piece on your shelf to the Ningol Chakouba set at the door
The question after the Ima notice is answered from the bill
A customer who has heard of the notice asks whether a piece is handloom. You answer from the bill and not from the stitching: the item the piece was billed under says which kind it is, and the customer sees the same word on her own copy.
Yarn out, cloth in: one page for the weaver's house
If you give a weaver yarn and take the cloth back, write both on her page: the yarn that went out and each piece that came in with its rate. The page shows the difference at any time, and when she settles with you, you both read the same figures instead of arguing about the bundle.
The sets chosen for Ningol Chakouba stay on the family's page
When a family picks its sets, make the bill for the full amount and write each payment on its page with the day. The page shows what is paid and what is left, and the last payment can come by UPI from a son-in-law in another town. The bill goes to the family on WhatsApp.
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Tools for a counter stacked with phanek and enaphi
Orders to suppliers
The order for yarn and plain cloth from wholesalers outside Manipur, placed before the feast weeks and checked against what the parcel held when it was opened.
Your own online shop
A page for the shop that a daughter in another town opens to choose the phanek and enaphi for her mother's Ningol Chakouba gift.
Daily reports
Handloom and machine-made phanek as separate rows, so the weeks before the feast can be set beside the weeks before a wedding.
Where Manipur's cloth is woven and sold
Cloth is woven in one place and sold in another. These two districts matter most to a cloth shop.
- In Imphal East, 14,061 of the 45,346 business establishments do handicrafts or handloom work (Economic Census 2013).
- Ima Keithel in Imphal West is an all-women market with about 3,000 'Imas' running stalls, with handlooms and household tools on the side opposite the vegetables, fruits, fish and groceries.
- Khangabok in Thoubal is famed for kouna (tule) handicrafts such as mats, stools, chairs and hand bags.
- In Ukhrul, 64.6% of main workers are cultivators (2011 Census).
A trust that brought its artisan clusters' orders and stock into one place
Questions Manipur cloth shops ask
Each sister wants her phanek in her own colour and size. How do I keep the sets apart in my count?
Name each set with its colour and size, and give it its own count. When the brother chooses, the colour that is gone shows on the phone before he walks to the shelf, and he is not told yes and then no.
A wedding party takes many phanek at once and I give a lower rate for the lot. Can the bill show that?
Yes. Put a discount on the bill for the lot. The bill shows the full price, the discount and the amount to pay, so the party sees exactly what it was given.
A daughter pays the first part for her mother's gift set today and collects it next week. When does the set leave my count?
On the day of the first payment. Make the bill that day with the first part noted against it, and the set leaves the count then. When she collects next week the bill is already made, and the set is not sold twice to someone who walks in on Tuesday.
Yarn, looms and weavers in Manipur
The state government decided to set up a yarn wholesaler at Ima Keithel so that weavers can get yarn at cheaper prices. In a trade where the weaver is also your supplier, her yarn bill ends up in the price she asks for a piece.
The 2019-20 National Handloom Census found 2.12 lakh handloom weavers and 2.11 lakh looms in Manipur. A cloth shop in the state is one buyer among a very large number of homes that weave.