Ministry of Culture promotes continuous use of Thai textile

BANGKOK, April 5 (TNA) – The Ministry of Culture has rolled out plans to encourage people to wear traditional Thai costumes continuously. Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat on Thursday presided over a meeting on conservation of Thai textile and traditional Thai costumes at the national museum in Phra Nakhon district. He said the ministry has compiled knowledge about traditional clothing nationwide and published books on cultural heritage, featuring local wisdom on Thai woven cloth. Under the campaign, various activities will be held to pass on knowledge to young generation by national and local artists. Designer contests will be arranged to inspire young designers to use Thai woven clothing to make costumes that can be used in several occasions in everyday life. The ministry aims at raising awareness on importance of Thai clothing and to maintain popularity of this trend. The meeting, attended by national artists, experts in Thai textile, officials from related agencies and Thai textile business operators discussed how to continue this trend before setting guidelines for implementation. According to survey on wearing Thai costumes at 16,327 educational institutes nationwide in Jan this year by the department of cultural promotion, about 75.88 per cent promotes wearing Thai traditional dress once a week. It estimates that local cloth weaving communities earn more than 1.3 billion baht. (TNA)