Today's topic is the narrow width of Uzbek ikats fabrics. Many of you ask us why Uzbek ikat fabrics are so narrow. With this post I will try to explain why.

Ikat fabrics and arrival of communism

Ikat weaving has been practiced in Central Asia for centuries by artisans. The arrival of bolsheviks with an idea of communism about 100 years ago put an end to individual craftsmanship and made all manufacturing, including ikat making a government domain. Only state owned textile companies made ikats. Attempts to make ikats at home as a side business was a crime for which artisans could go to a jail. This sounds wild but the Soviet idea was to have everyone economically equal. When someone works secretly at home, in addition to working for a state textile factory, he/she gets richer than others. That was unacceptable to the Soviet regime. The fact that ikat weaving has survived is partly due to these "crimes" committed by artisans by working in secret.