Sri Lanka has acquired a reputation for handloom products. The combination of traditional designs blended with modern processing techniques has created a lot of demand for Sri Lankan handlooms in international markets.

Around 900 private handloom producers, small, medium and large operate, in the country. The handloom textile industry is a highly labor-intensive, export-oriented rural-based. Handloom textiles are produced in Sri Lanka within the confines of a small-scale industry that generates employment for rural women. Among the handloom textiles produced are: household linen such as bed clothes and towels, upholstery materials, furnishing materials such as curtains, cushions covers, saris and sarongs.

Books, notebooks, albums, and even writing pads are now clothed with this handcrafted material of textile. Handloom woven cotton and silk textiles of vibrant colors have been popular among locals as well as tourists. Italy, Germany, France, UK, Norway, Netherlands, Maldives and Thailand are the main markets for Sri Lankan handloom products.

Lankan weavers have succeeded in creating a distinct identity of their own by transforming traditional woven patterns and color schemes into beautiful textile designs. Fabrics manufactured in Sri Lanka are mostly of cotton with relatively small quantities of rayon and polyester cotton. Sri Lanka also produces a range of products by using silk yarn.