Haryana is quite famous for its woven work, be it shawls, dhurries, robes or lungis. The Haryana shawl, an offshoot of the shawl from Kashmir, is a work of art in itself. Known as phulkari, it is a spectacular piece of clothing, full of magnificent colours and intricate embrodiery. Worn with with a tight-fitting choli (blouse) and ghaghra (long skirt), it forms the basic winter wear for the women of Haryana.
Haryana boasts of a robust handloom tradition, especially in Panipat and an equally vibrant handicraft tradition. Panipat is a major textile town of India famous for its rugs and upholstery fabric. Traditionally women would weave durries (rugs) and khes (thick coverlets) for household use whenever they would be free from agricultural and household work. However, today theses rugs, especially the panja durries (named after a weaving method) are marketed all over the world. Thick fabrics are a speciality of Haryana, as climatic conditions do not allow the use of fine threads in normal looms. The weavers have also developed their skills using thick threads and can weave many beautiful and complicated designs. The thread used by most weavers is thick cotton thread called sooth in the local language.
A deviation from the phulakri is the bagh (garden). In this case, the entire cloth is covered with embrodiery inasmuch that the base cloth is hardly seen.