Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 5: One can now check if the silk he/she buys is pure or not with just a scan of the QR code on the new Silk Mark label. On scanning the code, information such as name of the silk mark chapter and authorized user facilitating the garment’s authentication is displayed.
The Silk Mark Organization of India (SMOI), functioning under the Central Silk Board, Union Ministry of Textiles, introduced the new Silk Mark Sticker Label with several features like holographic strip, invisible UV text, alpha-numeric code and QR code. In addition to this, the sticker label disintegrates once peeled off the garment, thereby ensuring single use. This is a part of SMOI’s endeavour to curb the sale of fake, impure and mixed silk in the name of pure silk and thus ensure quality.
The Indian silk industry is plagued by the problem of fake or impure or mixed silk being passed off as pure silk to the unsuspecting customer which deals a blow to the industry as a whole. The consumers are cheated of their money on one side and the stakeholders of the silk industry like silk farmers, silk reelers, weavers, craftsmen and genuine retailers lose their livelihood.
The Silk Mark Label, the world’s first and the only label assuring the purity of silks was conceptualized and introduced in 2004 and over the years has undergone many changes to keep up with the times. It is estimated that in the new avatar, the Silk Mark Sticker Label will to a large extent curb the malpractices and thereby deliver value to the consumer and the stakeholders in the silk industry. Over 40 million Silk Mark labelled products are already in the market for the benefit of consumers.
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