The word silk appears in a lot of saree names that contain very little silk, and sometimes none at all.
Art silk, dola silk, satin silk, soft silk. All four carry the word. Not one of them is a promise that you are buying silk. Other names, like Paithani or Kanjivaram, are not about the fibre at all. They tell you where the saree was woven and under which tradition.
So a saree name can be describing the thread, or the place, or nothing much.
Almost every label you will meet is one of these.
● Crafts with a registered origin. The Paithani saree, the Kanjivaram saree, the Ilkal saree, the Narayanpet saree. The name is protected by a Geographical Indication and it tells you where the saree was made.
● Names of the fibre or the fabric. Art silk, satin silk, tissue silk, georgette, organza. These describe what the cloth is made of, or how it is built. They say nothing about where it came from.
● Mill and marketing names. The dola silk saree, the rajwadi saree, soft silk, and anything beginning with semi. These were created to sell cloth. Some describe something real. None of them is a weaving tradition.
A good blend at a fair price is a sensible buy. The trouble starts when a blend is sold at pure silk prices under a borrowed name.
Every name, and what it really is
|
Name on the listing |
What it actually is |
Which kind of name |
Where it is woven |
Market price |
At our mill, power loom |
|
Paithani saree |
Pure silk with real zari, woven with an interlocked border |
Craft with a GI, Maharashtra |
Paithan and Yeola, Maharashtra |
₹10,000 and above for handloom |
₹700 to ₹3,900 |
|
Kanjivaram saree |
Pure mulberry silk, body and border woven separately and interlocked |
Craft with a GI, Tamil Nadu |
Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu |
₹15,000 and above for handloom pure silk |
₹500 to ₹550, Kanjivaram style |
|
Tissue silk saree |
A real fabric type. Silk warp, zari weft, light and slightly sheer |
Fabric name |
Banaras, Kanchipuram and elsewhere |
From about ₹1,500 for power loom. Handloom pure silk runs well above ₹8,000 |
₹350 to ₹7,550 |
|
Semi Paithani saree |
No fixed meaning. Usually a power loom Paithani in a blend or art silk. Sometimes real silk and zari in the border only |
Trade term with two uses |
Yeola and the Maharashtra power looms |
₹1,500 to ₹5,000 |
Sold here as soft silk Paithani, ₹980 to ₹1,550 |
|
Art silk saree |
Usually viscose rayon. Not silk, and the word is not regulated |
Fibre name |
Surat and the power loom belts |
₹450 to ₹2,500 |
₹500 to ₹550 |
|
Satin silk saree |
Satin is a weave, not a fibre. Could be silk, could be polyester |
Weave name used as a fibre name |
Anywhere |
₹600 to ₹3,000 |
₹750 to ₹3,550 |
|
Soft silk saree |
A trade term. Usually a lighter silk or a silk blend |
Mill name |
Anywhere |
₹1,500 to ₹7,000 |
₹500 to ₹1,680 |
|
Dola silk saree |
A mill blend. No fixed composition, no weaving town, no GI |
Marketing name |
No documented cluster |
₹800 to ₹3,000 |
₹1,680 to ₹1,780 |
|
Rajwadi saree |
A style word meaning royal or palace like. Not a weave |
Marketing name |
Anywhere |
Depends entirely on the fabric |
₹2,100 |
|
Kalanjali Paithani saree |
Two different things with one name |
Brand name and trade name |
Yeola |
₹10,000 and above for handloom pure silk |
₹700 |
Where the two price columns sit close together, the name is a fabric name and a power loom mill is the natural place to buy it. Where they sit far apart, the name belongs to a handloom craft, and what a mill sells is the power loom version of that look.
The dola silk saree is the one most people ask about, and the one with the least behind it.
What it is. A mill made blended fabric with a silk like drape and shine. The blend is usually viscose, sometimes with polyester, occasionally with a small amount of real silk. The composition is not fixed, because there is no standard to fix it to.
What it is not.
● It is not a weaving tradition. There is no dola town, no dola weaving cluster, no community of dola weavers.
● It has no Geographical Indication, because there is no place to register.
● It has no documented origin at all. Search for where dola silk is woven and you find product listings and nothing else.
● Listings that declare a composition are viscose based. Many declare nothing, which tells you something in itself.
Should you buy one. Yes, if the price matches what it is. A dola silk saree at ₹1,200 that drapes well and survives a long function is a good purchase. The same saree at ₹7,000, sold as heavy silk, is not.
How to check. Look for the composition on the label. If the listing will not give you fibre percentages, that is your answer. Weigh it if you can, because viscose is light and silk is not.
Rajwadi is not a weave. It is an adjective. The word means royal, or in the style of a palace. In saree retail it describes a look, usually a rich contrast border, heavy zari and a traditional colour palette.
That is the whole definition. There is no rajwadi weaving town, no rajwadi loom, no rajwadi GI. No craft body has defined the word, because there is no craft to define.
Two things follow.
● A rajwadi saree can be made of anything. Pure silk, art silk, a blend. The word tells you nothing about the fibre, so the price should be set by what the cloth actually is.
● The word is doing marketing work, not descriptive work. When you see it, look past it to the fabric and the border.
None of this makes rajwadi sarees bad. They are often beautiful. It only means the word describes a style, in the same way bridal or festive does.
Kalanjali is used in two completely different ways, which is why two sarees sold under the name can be very different products at very different prices.
● As a retail brand. Kalanjali is a five showroom retail chain in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, run by Margadarsi Marketing, part of the Ramoji Group. It sells handicrafts, furniture and apparel, and sarees are one of its categories. Someone who says they bought a Kalanjali saree may simply mean they bought it from that shop.
● As a trade name in Yeola. Yeola retailers list kalanjali as one of several named Paithani types. The ones who use the word describe a pure silk Paithani saree with an all over woven motif body, usually jacquard butti work, and they list it separately from brocade Paithani.
No craft body or GI authority defines the term. It is documented only by the sellers who use it, and they do not all use it the same way.
So when you are buying one.
● The useful question is not whether it is a real kalanjali. It is what the body is made of, what the border is made of, and whether the zari is real.
● Handloom pure silk kalanjali Paithani sarees from Yeola are generally listed from about ₹10,000 upwards. One priced well below that is a power loom saree, which is fine as long as it is sold as one.
Semi Paithani has no fixed definition, and sellers use the word in two ways.
● The common meaning. A power loom Paithani saree, woven in a silk blend or in art silk throughout, with imitation zari.
● The narrower meaning. Real silk and real zari in the border and the pallu, with an art silk body. Some sellers use semi this way, because the border and the pallu are where the design and the cost sit.
Both are sold under the same word at similar prices, so the word on its own tells you very little.
Three questions that do tell you something.
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What is the body made of.
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What is the border and the pallu made of. Ask separately, because the answer is often different.
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Is the zari real, tested or metallic.
It is still worth buying. You get the look and the drape at a fraction of the weight and the price, and for a function or a first Paithani saree it is the sensible choice for most people. It stops being honest only when the word semi quietly drops out of the listing, or when it is priced like handloom.
Tissue is a real fabric type with a real definition, which puts it in a different class from most of the names here.
What tissue is. A very fine, light, slightly sheer cloth. In a tissue saree the warp is silk and the weft is zari, which is where the shimmer comes from. The word comes from the French tissu, meaning fabric. In Indian weaving it is also called tar bana.
Where it is woven. Banaras is the best known centre, Kanchipuram another. It is not tied to one place, so there is no GI for tissue as a category.
What to look for.
● Weight. It should feel light and still have body. Tissue saree fabric is heavier than it looks, because the silk warp is doubled through the heddles and the reed.
● The shimmer. In a genuine tissue saree the zari is woven into the weft, so the shine shifts as the cloth moves. A printed metallic finish sits flat and will crack.
● Sheerness. Tissue is meant to be slightly see through. That is the fabric working correctly, not a fault.
Who it suits. Tissue silk sarees drape beautifully and photograph very well. They crease easily and they are not everyday wear, so treat them as occasion sarees.
Tissue Paithani sarees. A tissue Paithani saree means a Paithani style border and pallu on a tissue body. It is a hybrid and a legitimate one, priced as a tissue saree rather than as a handloom Paithani saree.
Art silk,Satin silk and Soft silk sarees
All three describe the cloth rather than the craft.
The art silk saree. Art is short for artificial. In Indian saree retail it usually means viscose rayon, a regenerated cellulose fibre made from wood pulp, which is neither silk nor a petrochemical synthetic. The term is not regulated anywhere, and it is also used for polyester and nylon filament, so the composition field is the only answer. Art silk drapes well, takes dye brilliantly, costs very little and does not last the way silk does. Most art silk sarees come from India's power loom belts. Surat is the country's biggest man made fabric hub, and Elampillai in Tamil Nadu, Varanasi and Bengaluru are other large sources.
The satin silk saree. Satin is not a fibre. It is one of the three basic weave structures, along with plain and twill, and it is what gives cloth that smooth, high shine face. Satin can be woven in silk, polyester, viscose or a blend. So a satin silk saree might be silk, and it might be polyester with the word silk attached.
The soft silk saree. A trade term with no fixed meaning. It usually describes a lighter weight silk or a silk blend, chosen because it drapes more easily than a stiff pure silk saree. Ask what percentage of it is silk.
None of the three is a weaving tradition, and none can hold a GI, because none is tied to a place. All three are reasonable buys at the right price, and all three are routinely sold above it.
The Paithani silk saree, and what pure silk really means
Pure silk is not a certified term. No body has to approve it before a seller uses it, though a false composition claim is already an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act. India has also drafted labelling rules that would make exact fibre percentages compulsory, including for online sellers, and a separate draft regulation would make the Handloom Mark compulsory for anything sold as handloom.
What the different claims actually cover.
● Pure silk means the fibre is silk rather than viscose or polyester. It says nothing about the weave, the loom or the place.
● Silk Mark certifies that the thread is genuine silk, and only that. It does not mean handloom and it does not mean the saree is from anywhere in particular.
● Handloom Mark certifies that the cloth was woven on a handloom rather than a power loom.
● A GI registration protects the name and the place of origin. It does not certify quality. A poorly made Paithani saree from Yeola is still, legally, a Paithani saree.
So a saree can carry a genuine Silk Mark, be real silk all the way through, and still be a power loom product from a different state.
For a Paithani silk saree, check three things.
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The reverse of the pallu. In a genuine handwoven Paithani saree the border and the body are locked together weft by weft, so the back carries no floating threads and the design is nearly reversible. Power loom copies leave a mess of floats.
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The zari. Which of the three kinds it is matters more than the word pure.
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The price. Below about ₹10,000 for a fully handwoven pure silk Paithani saree, something in the description is not true. The silk and the zari come to a few thousand rupees. What costs money is the weeks of weaving.
The Kanjivaram saree price, and why it is what it is
The Kanjivaram saree comes from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. It has been recognised as a Geographical Indication since 2005-06 and is woven in pure mulberry silk. Kanjivaram, Kanjeevaram and Kanchipuram are three spellings of the same thing.
Why it costs what it costs.
● Three shuttles, two people. The weaver works the right side while an assistant works the left side shuttle.
● The body and the border are woven separately and then interlocked. The trade name for this is korvai. The joint is so strong that if the saree tears, the border still will not come away. That is the defining structural feature, and it is what you are paying for.
● Where the mundhi is a contrasting shade it is woven separately and joined on. That technique is called petni. You can often see a fine zigzag line at the join, which is a good sign. On a same colour pallu there is no join, so there is nothing to look for.
● Pure mulberry silk and real zari are expensive before anyone touches a loom, and the weaving takes weeks.
A genuinely cheap Kanjivaram saree is a contradiction. What sells at the low end is a Kanjivaram style silk blend, which is fine when it is described that way.
The quick check. Tug gently where the border meets the body. On a genuine one the two are interlocked and will not separate. On a copy the border is woven in rather than joined, and the line between them looks printed on rather than built in.
There are three, not two, and the middle one is what most genuine silk sarees actually use.
● Real zari. Silver wire, gold plated, wound on a silk core. It is heavy. Over many years it tarnishes to a darker tone. It does not peel.
● Imitation zari, called tested zari in the trade. Copper wire electroplated with silver, on a silk core. This is the commonest zari in genuine mid priced silk sarees, including many real Kanjivaram and Paithani sarees. It is not a sign of a fake.
● Metallic zari. Metallised polyester film. The lightest and cheapest, and the one that can crack or lift at the edges.
So the question is not whether the zari is real. It is which of the three it is. A seller who knows will tell you straight away.
Five checks you can actually do
Burn tests work, but you cannot do one in a shop and you certainly cannot do one online. These are more useful.
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Read the composition field. Every honest listing has one. If the fibre percentages are missing, the seller has chosen not to tell you.
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Weigh it. Silk is heavy, viscose and polyester are light. A saree sold as heavy pure silk that weighs almost nothing is not what it says it is.
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Turn it over. Interlocked weaving leaves a clean back. Floating threads on the reverse mean the design was woven in by machine.
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Check the number on the label, not the hologram. Silk Mark labels carry a serial number, and newer ones a QR code, which you can check in the Label Authentication section at silkmarkindia.com. The Handloom Mark is a separate label covering the loom, registered through the Textiles Committee. A hologram on its own is worth nothing, because the hologram is the part that gets copied.
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Apply price sanity. What makes a handloom saree expensive is labour. A saree sold as handloom at a price that leaves nothing for the weaver is not handloom
|
Budget |
What is realistic in the market |
What it buys at our mill |
|
Under ₹1,500 |
An art silk saree. A satin saree. A light dola silk saree. |
Most of what we make. Cotton, art silk, kathpadar, soft silk Paithani, Irkal checks, and a tissue silk saree from ₹350. |
|
₹1,500 to ₹5,000 |
A tissue silk saree. A soft silk saree. A good blended saree with real zari in the border. |
Our upper range. Heavier tissue silk, Paithani up to ₹3,900, satin silk, dola silk, rajwadi, Khan silk. |
|
₹5,000 to ₹10,000 |
A heavier tissue silk saree. A pure silk saree without handloom work. |
Four sarees, including a bridal tissue silk at ₹7,550 and a nauvari at ₹8,000. |
|
Above ₹10,000 |
Handloom territory. A fully handwoven pure silk Paithani saree with real zari starts here, and a handloom pure silk Kanjivaram saree nearer ₹15,000. |
Nothing. We do not sell handloom, and we do not price as though we do. |
What we sell, and what we do not
We are a power loom mill in Pune, not a handloom house, and that one fact explains our whole price list. Our sarees run from about ₹350 to ₹8,000, and four out of five sit between ₹500 and ₹2,000.
A fully handwoven pure silk Paithani saree starts at around ₹10,000, which is above our highest price, so we do not have one. What we weave is power loom cloth. Soft silk Paithani sarees, tissue silk sarees, kathpadar sarees, Irkal checks and cotton, priced for what they are.
Handloom specialists and premium showrooms generally begin at about the price where we finish, and a bridal handloom piece runs into lakhs. That is a different product and a fair price for it. Neither of us is doing the other's job.
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Pure silk and Paithani are not the same claim. One is about the fibre, the other about the place and the weave. A saree can pass one and fail the other.
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Art silk is not a cheap silk. It is not silk at all. Usually viscose rayon, sometimes polyester or nylon, and the word is not regulated.
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Satin is a weave, not a fibre. A satin silk saree may contain no silk.
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Semi is not an insult. A semi Paithani saree is a real product. The problem is only ever the price.
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Dola silk and rajwadi are not weaves. One names a fabric, the other a style. Neither tells you where a saree was made or what it is made of.
Is dola silk real silk? Usually not. A dola silk saree is a mill made blend, most often viscose based, sometimes with a little real silk and sometimes with none. There is no fixed composition, because dola silk is a trade name rather than a defined fabric. Check the composition on the label rather than the name.
Where is dola silk woven? There is no dola silk weaving cluster. It is a fabric name, not a place name, so there is no traditional centre, no weaving community and no Geographical Indication attached to it. It is produced on power looms.
What does rajwadi mean in sarees? Rajwadi means royal, or in the style of a palace. It describes a look, typically a rich contrast border with heavy zari. It is not a weave, not a place and not a fibre, so a rajwadi saree can be made of anything.
Is kalanjali a brand or a type of Paithani saree? Both, which is the problem. Kalanjali is a retail chain in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, run by Margadarsi Marketing of the Ramoji Group, and sarees are one of its categories. The word is also used in the Yeola Paithani trade for a pure silk Paithani saree with an all over woven motif body, usually jacquard butti work. No craft body defines the term, so two kalanjali Paithani sarees can be very different products.
What is a semi Paithani saree? Semi Paithani has no fixed definition. Most often it means a power loom Paithani saree, woven in a silk blend or in art silk throughout, with imitation zari. Some sellers use it for a saree with real silk and real zari in the border and pallu and an art silk body. Because both are sold under the same word, ask for the composition of the body and the border separately, and ask whether the zari is real, tested or metallic.
What is a tissue silk saree made of? A tissue silk saree has a silk warp and a zari weft, which is what gives it the shimmer. It is very light and slightly sheer by design. It is also known as tar bana, and Banaras and Kanchipuram are two of the main weaving centres.
Is satin silk real silk? Not necessarily. Satin is a weave structure, not a fibre, so satin cloth can be woven in silk, polyester, viscose or a blend. A satin silk saree may be genuine silk or it may be polyester with the word silk in the name. Only the composition field will tell you.
What is the difference between art silk and pure silk? Pure silk comes from the silkworm. Art silk is short for artificial silk, and in Indian saree retail it usually means viscose rayon, which is made from wood pulp. The term is not regulated, so it is also used for polyester and nylon. Art silk drapes well and costs far less, but it does not last the way silk does.
Does Silk Mark mean the saree is handloom? No. Silk Mark certifies only that the thread is genuine silk. It says nothing about the loom, the weaver or the place. Handloom Mark is the separate label that covers handwoven cloth, registered through the Textiles Committee. Check the serial number or QR code on a Silk Mark label at silkmarkindia.com rather than trusting the hologram, because the hologram is the part that gets copied.
Why is the Kanjivaram saree price so high? Because of labour and raw material rather than branding. A Kanjivaram saree uses pure mulberry silk, it is woven on three shuttles with two people at the loom, and the body and border are woven separately and then interlocked. That technique is called korvai, and the joint is so strong that the border will not detach even if the saree tears. Where the pallu is a contrasting shade it is woven separately as well, by a technique called petni. A handloom pure silk Kanjivaram saree generally starts around ₹15,000.
If a saree name has the word silk in it, is it silk? Not necessarily. Art silk is usually viscose. Satin silk may be polyester, because satin is a weave and not a fibre. Soft silk and dola silk are trade names with no fixed composition. The only things that tell you the fibre are the composition field on the listing and a Silk Mark number you can check.
What is the difference between a fibre name and a place name? A fibre name like pure silk or art silk tells you what the thread is made of. A place name like Paithani or Kanjivaram tells you where the saree was woven and under which tradition, and those names are protected by a Geographical Indication. They answer two different questions, so a saree can satisfy one and not the other.