Home Cotton goods Gamchha and handloom towels
Gamchha and handloom cotton towels from West Bengal
The thin, checked cotton towel of eastern India, and other handloom towels, woven in West Bengal for shops and online sellers.
We are export traders based in Kolkata, working with manufacturers across India.
A gamchha is a thin, light cotton towel, usually checked, that dries fast. West Bengal weaves 12% of India's handloom towels, napkins, dusters and gamcha, and together with Assam 84.4% of them (Fourth All India Handloom Census, 2019-20).
In India the gamcha is one of the items the law reserves for handloom weaving. A handloom towel will not beat a mill towel on price. It has to win on quality and story instead, so the specification matters: size, weight, the check, the edges, and whether the colours hold in the wash.
What to tell us
- Size of each piece
- Weight per piece, or grams per square metre if you know it
- Check pattern and colours, or plain
- Fringed or hemmed ends
- Quantity per design
- Label, tag and packing
Tell us how the towels will be used and washed. That decides the weight and the dye.
Questions about gamchha and handloom towels
Is a gamchha always handloom-made?
In India, yes by law: the gamcha is on the list of items reserved for handloom weaving (Handlooms (Reservation of Articles for Production) Act, 1985, order S.O. 2160(E) of 3 September 2008). We ask the maker for the Handloom Mark label as proof and inspect the goods before they ship.
Ask for a quote on gamchha and handloom towels
The product is filled in for you. Tell us how many gamchha and handloom towels you need, where they are going, and anything from the list above. We reply by email within a working day.