The Indian sewing machine industry - contemporary vintage, so to speak
10-06-2012, 05:34 PM
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Posts: 11
The Indian sewing machine industry - contemporary vintage, so to speak
A few years back, I contemplated importing Indian made clones of the once ubiquitous Raleigh RT-1 bicycle to Denmark. This never came to fruition for many reasons, but it once again confirmed my impression of just how many "authentic" products continue to be made and used in India. The center of Indian bicycle manufacturing is the Punjab city of Ludhiana, where 10 million bicycles are produced per year in a large number of factories.
Ludhiana, however, is also the centre for sewing machine manufacture in India. Let's just say - they don't disappoint when it comes to "authenticity" and a continued reliance on Singer designs and (hopefully) robustness.
Furthermore, they don't just stick to Singer 15-clones (although they are in the portfolio of most, if not all manufacturers - often called "Tailor Model" or "Domestic Sewing Machine") - I've seen Singer 66 clones (mostly touted as "Umbrella Machine", TA-1 or "Master Tailor") and even some models resembling Singer 201s and Singer 15-125s
Here are a few pictures for a start:
A Manohar Singer 15 clone:
A Tez TA-1 Singer 66 clones (as far as I can see):
A Vimmi Singer 66 clone, which purportedly can be bought with that treadle/that table:
An Ashoka machine, which to my eyes look exactly like a Singer 15-125:
You don't like that colour? - That's quite alright, RMI and Tez will be happy to supply them in these colours instead:
Finally we have this Pahwa - the picture's probably reversed, but it still looks a bit like a Singer 201:
I'm only scratching the surface here - there are so many models and manufacturers (I'm counting upwards of 20 factories although many of them probably have some form of sharing parts and manufacture..)
Ludhiana, however, is also the centre for sewing machine manufacture in India. Let's just say - they don't disappoint when it comes to "authenticity" and a continued reliance on Singer designs and (hopefully) robustness.
Furthermore, they don't just stick to Singer 15-clones (although they are in the portfolio of most, if not all manufacturers - often called "Tailor Model" or "Domestic Sewing Machine") - I've seen Singer 66 clones (mostly touted as "Umbrella Machine", TA-1 or "Master Tailor") and even some models resembling Singer 201s and Singer 15-125s
Here are a few pictures for a start:
A Manohar Singer 15 clone:
A Tez TA-1 Singer 66 clones (as far as I can see):
A Vimmi Singer 66 clone, which purportedly can be bought with that treadle/that table:
An Ashoka machine, which to my eyes look exactly like a Singer 15-125:
You don't like that colour? - That's quite alright, RMI and Tez will be happy to supply them in these colours instead:
Finally we have this Pahwa - the picture's probably reversed, but it still looks a bit like a Singer 201:
I'm only scratching the surface here - there are so many models and manufacturers (I'm counting upwards of 20 factories although many of them probably have some form of sharing parts and manufacture..)
Last edited by Crumar; 10-06-2012 at 05:42 PM.
10-07-2012, 07:12 AM
#5
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
Posts: 3,992
That is such interesting information. Thank you for providing it to us here. But it would make sense to me as India still lacks electricity in much of the rural areas of the country. It does surprise me somewhat that a few of those sewing machines have not made it to the USA.
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