Banarashi and Jamdani are examples of the world finest muslin cloth, which are proud products of the Bangladeshi heritage of weaving. Banarashi is an artistic, immaculately hand made sari cloth which is generally used for creating Bengali women’s wedding dresses, whereas the Jamdani is widely used by the elite classes for special event saris. Paradoxically this fine Bangladeshi cloth is hand woven by Pakistani refugees in the Mirpur Geneva Camp. Initially there were no showrooms or shops for the weavers to sell direct to customers. They made and supplied materials for sale in different cloth shops throughout Dhaka City. Unfortunately they did not get a fair price for their work, which led the weavers to establish their own retail outlets. In 1980 Banarashi Polli began with five shops. Now there are more than 150 shops where 800 artists work directly.
Mirpur Banarashi Polli is the only Banarashi market in the country. Basically three types of sari cloth are on offer – Jamdani, Katan and silk. Jamdani is the finest, most artistic and aristocratic sari cloth, which carries on the tradition of the famous muslin first created in Dhaka in the sixteenth century. Everyday many wholesale and retail customers come here from Dhaka and other parts of the country to purchase cloth. Businessmen also take orders for making Banarashi to the customer’s specific design and requirements. The price range for Banarashi is TK. 2000-70000 and depends of the design work and cloth quality. Banarashi is now exported to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and some other Asian countries.