This regal setting was part of a promotional campaign for Pothys Palace, a textile store in Chennai's T. Nagar. Yes, the city's silk saree market is witnessing several innovative changes. Fifty years ago, a typical Tamil wedding would have among its many rituals a trip to Kancheepuram for its famed pattu (silk). Often, the family would boast of a patron weaver who would meticulously design and put together the bride's trousseau.
At Pothys Palace the collection in ven pattu (white silk) and leaf-green has found many patrons. "With jacquard boxes in looms, we can make the most intricate designs on silk. And the colour palette has seen a major change. Earlier, only dark colours such as maroon, magenta and green were used for silk sarees. But today over 1,000 colours are used. Pastel shades have made a great impact," says S. Ramesh, the store's managing partner.
Established first in Tirunelveli, the store finds a loyal following among people hailing from interior Tamil Nadu. The original founders are said to have worked for the royal courts in the distant past. In fact, even today their designs depict the valour of a bygone era in silk and gold zari. Pothys has now forayed into designer sarees, and Indian and western wear.
Very little in terms of product differentiation. But the scale takes the cake for this brand. Pothy’s was a prominent outlet in Coimbatore Tirunelveli chennai and they started opening branches because their competition decided to tickle them. Yes. When Nalli opened an outlet in Coimbatore, Pothy’s was outraged. And outraged is a euphemistic term, because going by what they did, it should be termed as nothing less than a war. They have the then largest clothing outlet in Chennai bang opposite Nalli’s. And was amongst the first to go TV with consummate ease. They did a huge part of the market share and they made it look so easy. Chennai (read T Nagar) had two large stores to go to now.
For more information
http://www.pothys.com
