Banarasi Saree, Banarasi Sari

Watch Out For Fake Banarasi Saris-How To Ensure Your Banarasi Sari Is Original?

Banarasi saris have been a pride and part of rich Indian traditional culture since the era of Mughals. But lately this market has been deprived of its fair share! There have been cheap imitations of Banarasi sarees imports from China in Indian market these days which eat into the share of Indian artisans of Varanasi [the hub of Banarasi saree weaving].

Normally, people are not able to distinguish between an original Banarasi sari and a fake one. Often people fall prey to the low cost fake Chinese made Banarasi saree for a real deal. An original Banarasi Saree can costs anywhere from 8,000 rupees to 300,000 rupees whereas as a fake Chinese import or a saree from Surat is about 2,500-4000 rupees. This has had an adverse effect on the living standards of the Indian Banarasi saree weavers. According to t a survey conducted in 2007, it was reported that almost 60% of the weaving community in Varanasi have taken a downfall.
Yellow Pure Silk Banarasi Saree

As a matter of fact, many of the Banarasi sari weavers have now resorted to other means of livelihood such as tea stalls, rickshaw pulling, vegetable sellers etc. it is really unfair to the whole weaving community of India. They are suffering due to the cheap fake Banarasi sarees in the Indian market.

To save yourself from being duped next time you venture out to buy a Banarasi saree, here are the tips to identify an original Banarasi sari from a fake one!

•When you go to buy a Banarasi saree just pull its other side up i.e. reverse the saree to check for floats between the grids of warps and wefts on the saree. Only a hand-woven Banarasi saree will boats of such warp and weft technique. The machine fails to replicate that.

Kadhua Weave

Picture of a banarasi kadhua saree

•Another way to identify a real Banarasi saree is to check for pin marks. These are usually found on the selvage of the saree to fix a handloom saree to the loom.

•If you have ever seen a Banarasi saree before, you will notice that it mostly carries the Mughals patterns like amru, ambi and domak. A fake Banarasi saree wouldn’t have these Indian handmade Persian designs on it.

Recently, Banarasi sarees have got their own GI [geographical indication] protection against all the Chinese and Surat made saris. This an IPR i.e. intellectual property right to help people identify the original Banarasi sarees made from the six districts of Uttar Pradesh state in India [Varanasi, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Jaunpur, Mirzapur and Sant Ravi Dass Nagar – Bhadohi].

Another import thing to check for while buying pure silk Saris is the Certificate of Authorised use of the Silk Mart logo. Always, insist on the certificate if you are buying a pure silk sari.

Rajan Silk Store Silk Mark Certificate

Here is another useful post you can read on how to identity pure silk vs artificial silk and how to identify handloom Banarasi saree vs powerloom saree: Identify a Banarasi

27 thoughts on “Watch Out For Fake Banarasi Saris-How To Ensure Your Banarasi Sari Is Original?

  1. how can i find real banarasi sarees
    just send the catalog of real pure banarasi sarees ,i want to buy one banarasi saree nearly 4000-5000 can u please send the range of the sarees like in this range how can identify a pure banarasi silk pattu saree

    1. Hi seshagiri,
      Can you please let me know which city you are based in? Is it possible for you to visit Varanasi?
      Thanks,
      Rajan

  2. Hi, Though I do not intend to purchase a saree however given the extremely useful information on this website and how helpfully you’ve documented certain information I couldn’t help but ask you a few questions regarding the banarasi fabric. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Posting it here in case its helpful for other people like myself.

    I and my wife design anarkali/kalidar suits where in we use a lot of antique/anmol/copper material and no better than a banarasi fabric carries it off. We’ve been buying pure brocades and banarasi georgette because we haven’t been able to get our hands on genuine banarasi silk, more so because we don’t know what it is.

    Could you first please explain which fabric is suffixed with the word banarasi – is it a fabric that has a design because there’s banarasi silk, banarasi georgette but what exactly is banarasi here?

    Pure brocades being sold in the market today, are they as good as banarasi silk or is banarasi silk the same thing? They feel more like a better quality of chanderi as the cloth is not very soft instead hard and crisp and as the price goes up it starts to feel more like silk i.e. soft and rich.

    Again, thanks for your time in reading this. Any information in this regard would be helpful, thanks.

    1. While I’m no expert, my understanding is that ‘Banarasi’ is not a fabric but a style of weaving that is indigenous to Varanasi or to the few select cities in UP that practice it. It fabric itself could be anything – cotton, georgette or silk. Originally I believe the Banarasi weavers used silk and cotton only, so the original ‘Banarasi’ saree refers to only these two fabrics

  3. I want to buy banarasi saree plz tell me if u have any branch in delhi or give me ur no. Whete i can contact u thanx
    .

  4. I would like to buy banaras pure silk from your collection how can I purchase and view your collection I’m based in UK

    1. Hello ma’am . Thankyou for your enquiry. We can send you the images of our collection on your mail . And if possible , request you to share your whatsapp no since we are faster reached on whatsapp or you can contact us on 7388731111/9619019084 (incl whatsapp contact ) for the same.

  5. I have seen plenty of Banarasi saree’s in reasonable price in and around Lucknow. The prices are below 2000. Is it real Banarasi or not. I am interested to buy as I like silk saree collection. Pls advise if I can get genuine Banarasi sari with their ip logo recently launched by weavers association to protect real Banarasi work. Let me know the process of buying saree’s.

    1. It is impossible to get a Pure Banarasi saree at a price below 2k . Most of the vendors dupe their customers by claiming the saree to be Pure and selling at such low prices .
      If you are interested in buying genuine Banarasi sarees , you may contact us on 9619019084 /7388731111 . We carry beautiful curated Pure Banarasi katan silk sarees and also other types of Pure fabrics like Silk Georgettes , Tussar Silk , Crepe Silk and Chiffon Georgettes . We believe in educating our customers about different fabrics , weaving processes and also how to distinguish between Pure and Artificial fabrics and we try our level best to make a joyful buying experience for our customers .

  6. my shop in dist-Parbhani
    state-Maharashtra
    sowbhagya Collection
    plz send me banarasi sarees prices
    whats app no -7028889494

    1. Hello. Satin is a type of a silk weave. The fabric woven as Satin tends to be slightly thicker and smoother than regular katan silk.

  7. I have banarasi saarri of my mother. She worn it during her wedding . In that silver (Chandi)is used for embroidery instead of any other thread and that’s why it’s colour changed to little black.

    1. Hello. Just like any other utensils of silver, even silver zari can turn black. However, it can be polished and the shine can be restored if you find the right vendor. Thank you.

  8. I would like to buy banarasi sarees for resale purposes.Please send some pics to my mail address along with prices.

  9. I am interested in buying Banaras saree. Could you please send me your catalog? I am trying to contact you on this no 9619019084.

  10. Hi I want to buy original silk – banarasi saree for my wedding and I am based in Delhi. Can you please help me? It is very difficult to find a good banarasi saree here.

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