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\"It's amazing what you can make on a knitting loom--hats, scarves, shawls, and even arm warmers and cowls! This book teaches everything you need to know in photo-illustrated steps, so it's easy to follow along and start knitting your first project right away. Once you start, you'll want to knit all 30 patterns in the book!\"-- Provided by publisher.

Quality control is crucial for handloom fabric manufacturers, as undetected defects can cause financial losses and harm their reputation. Traditional inspection methods, achieving only 60–75% accuracy, are inadequate for maintaining high-quality standards. To overcome this limitation, we propose YMaskNet, an automated defect detection system specifically designed for handloom fabrics, operable with or without human supervision. YMaskNet integrates YOLOv4 with a MobileNetV2 backbone, Bidirectional Feature Pyramid Network (BiFPN), and Mask R-CNN to deliver efficient and precise defect identification. MobileNetV2 enables lightweight and effective feature extraction, while BiFPN enhances multi-scale feature fusion, improving the detection of defects of varying sizes. Mask R-CNN adds further precision by segmenting defect regions accurately. Our proprietary YMask dataset supports training and evaluation of the model. Experimental results demonstrate that YMaskNet significantly outperforms traditional methods in both precision and recall while maintaining real-time performance. The system effectively detects small and complex fabric defects, ensuring higher reliability and operational efficiency. Overall, YMaskNet provides a robust, scalable, and automated solution for maintaining product quality in textile manufacturing and strengthening the competitiveness of the handloom industry through intelligent, data-driven quality control.

PurposeThis study attempts to identify the supply chain risks (SCRs) induced during the COVID-19 disruption in an Indian handloom saree industry and determine suitable risk mitigation strategies (RMSs) to overcome the impact of the epidemic disruption.Design/methodology/approachThis work determined 11 SCRs through an extensive literature review in the context of the handloom apparel industry and validated through the experts. Further, a multiple case-based approach is used in this research. Within case and cross-case analyses of four relevant Indian handloom “make-to-order” saree manufacturing firms are conducted to determine the severity of the SCRs considering the pandemic situations to identify appropriate strategies to mitigate the shock of SCRs.FindingsThis study identified the critical SCRs in the context of the Indian handloom “make-to-order” saree industries that emerged during the COVID-19 and proposed a risk mitigation strategy matrix (RMSM) to address the SCRs based on their criticality and predictability dimensions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides a novel contribution to the body of knowledge on supply chain risk management (SCRM) in the form of the RMSM tool. Supply chain managers from the different sectors can extend the proposed RMSM to overcome the SCRs. Multiple case analyses facilitate supply chain professionals working in handloom apparel industries to benchmark and adopt the proposed RMSs in their firm.Originality/valueThis research is one of its kind that carried exploratory investigation of the handloom apparel industry cases to assess and determine the strategies for mitigating the SCRs caused during a pandemic outbreak.

\"Use a four- or eight-harness loom to weave an entirely new art material that you may never before have considered--metal! By using a wire warp and fiber weft, intermediate- to advanced-level weavers can create a woven metal fabric that is strong, malleable, and sculptural.\"--Page [4] of cover.

UNESCO (2009) concluded cultural and creative industries generate a high growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP), Gross Value Added (GVA) and employment opportunities in both developing and developed nations. [...]we can see an interconnection between culture and the creative economy with culture, linked to creativity being considered a driver of the development in a country (UNESCO, 2013). According to Hur and Beverley (2013), making use of products created via traditional craft practices can significantly increase the sustainability of both production and consumption practices of the fashion industry. Low capital costs and running expenses are among the many benefits of handloom, especially in rural areas are, alongside high-quality, value-added products created by skilled workers. [...]the industry is struggling to reach its full potential, with several key problems identified in this study: * Weavers are not entrepreneurial but rather rely on middlemen to generate markets; this significantly reduces their earnings potential; * Weavers do not innovate in design processes (either in the patterns woven or in the creation of new products), limiting access to valuable markets; and * Younger people do not view handloom weaving as a viable career option, leading to a reduction in numbers of skilled artisans, which impacts on the production potential if market size was increased.

\"Phoebe Jones is on a mission to make weaving accessible to all. In her debut book 'Made Weave Love' Phoebe shows you the joys of weaving and how this gentle and intuitive craft can spark joy and creativity into your life. Covering the very basics from the essential tools and how to build your own loom, to selecting the perfect yarn and finding color and design inspiration, Phoebe carefully guides you through everything you need to get started. Packed with beautiful photography and step-by-step tutorials throughout, this go-to guide--featuring projects for both beginners and advanced crafters alike--will give you the skills you need to confidently weave stunning masterpieces that spread style and color throughout your home\" -- Back cover.

PurposeA leader who inspires, facilitates and leads people to outperform themselves and bring phenomenal changes on an individual and social canvas is recognized as a transformational leader (TL). TL focuses on innovative methods and processes to improve the efficiency of subordinates. Experts believe that transformational leadership management is more effective than pragmatic leadership. This study focuses on the traits of a TL. Mr. Dhirendra Kumar, Managing Director of Jharcraft, who set out on a mission to lead people to revive the lost art and craft in the state of Jharkhand, India. The case highlights how Kumar's leadership style aligns with the four components of transformational leadership suggested by Bass (1985), i.e. idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and individual considerations.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a qualitative approach to comprehend the theory of transformational leadership. First of all, an in-depth analysis of transformational leadership theory was conducted using secondary data. The findings of several researchers on the basis of their contribution to the development of transformational leadership theory were analyzed. Based on this, the Bass transformational theory framework was selected. Primary data were collected by conducting interviews with Mr. Dhirendra Kumar, Managing Director of Jharcraft.FindingsTransformational leadership is a leadership style that can inspire positive changes in those who follow. TLs are generally energetic, enthusiastic and passionate. As per Bass's transformational leadership components, Kumar challenged the status quo and imbibed creativity and skill into local artisans. Artisans were imparted training by experts from the National Institute of Fashion and Technology and provided intellectual stimulation. Kumar offered support and encouragement to individual followers. In order to foster supportive relationships, Kumar articulated a clear vision to the followers. Kumar served as a role model for followers. Because followers trust and respect the leader, they emulate this individual and internalize the individual's ideals.Research limitations/implicationsThis study only considered the traits portrayed by Dhirendra Kumar during Kumar's tenure as the Managing Director of Warcraft, and the data were collected at one single point in time. Future research may consider Kumar's entire service journey and study factors that influenced his role as a TL.Practical implicationsStudents will be able to learn and understand how a TL can bring positive change at the grassroots level.Social implicationsThis case focuses on how a TL's efforts led to the societal upliftment of poor people and made them capable.Originality/valueGiven the importance of transformational leadership in today's organizational context, this study builds a knowledge base to understand factors for transformational leadership and traits exhibited by TLs.

Every nation treasures its handloom heritage, and in India, the handloom industry safeguards cultural traditions, sustains millions of artisans, and preserves ancient weaving techniques. To protect this legacy, a critical need arises to distinguish genuine handloom products, exemplified by the renowned “ gamucha ” from India’s northeast, from counterfeit powerloom imitations. Our study’s objective is to create an AI tool for effortless detection of authentic handloom items amidst a sea of fakes. Six deep learning architectures—VGG16, VGG19, ResNet50, InceptionV3, InceptionResNetV2, and DenseNet201—were trained on annotated image repositories of handloom and powerloom towels (17,484 images in total, with 14,020 for training and 3464 for validation). A novel deep learning model was also proposed. Despite respectable training accuracies, the pre-trained models exhibited lower performance on the validation dataset compared to our novel model. The proposed model outperformed pre-trained models, demonstrating superior validation accuracy, lower validation loss, computational efficiency, and adaptability to the specific classification problem. Notably, the existing models showed challenges in generalizing to unseen data and raised concerns about practical deployment due to computational expenses. This study pioneers a computer-assisted approach for automated differentiation between authentic handwoven “ gamucha ”s and counterfeit powerloom imitations—a groundbreaking recognition method. The methodology presented not only holds scalability potential and opportunities for accuracy improvement but also suggests broader applications across diverse fabric products.