KailiMen
A checked or striped cotton lungi wrapped at the waist, worn with a banian or a plain shirt. The working dress of every boat crew in the territory.
Worn for: Everyday and at sea
Lakshadweep · Island Realms
Dress and textiles
Dress here is a coastal Malabar Muslim vocabulary thinned out by heat and by the absence of any weaving tradition — no loom has ever operated on these islands, and every length of cloth has always arrived by boat. What the islands make instead is coir, and coir is not clothing. Minicoy dresses differently from the rest, and its women's costume is described in the literature as belonging with Maldivian rather than Malabar practice; the local names are not reliably recorded in published sources, and are left unnamed here rather than guessed at.
What is worn
MunduMen
A white cotton wrap worn with a shirt and often a white cap, following Malabar Muslim custom.
Worn for: Friday prayer, weddings, formal
ThattamWomen
A light headcloth worn over a blouse and wrapped lower cloth. Observance is near universal but the cloth is thin and loosely worn, which is a climate decision as much as a religious one.
Worn for: Everyday, outdoors
Minicoy women's dressWomen
A long loose dress worn with a wrapped lower cloth and gold ornament, distinct in cut from what is worn on the northern islands and closer to Maldivian dress. Festival versions are heavily embroidered at the neck.
Worn for: Everyday and festival
Weaves and textiles
Coir yarn and mattingKavaratti, Kadmat, Kalpeni and the Amindivi islands
Not a fabric for wearing but the islands' only spun fibre — coconut husk retted in the lagoon shallows for months, beaten, and spun into yarn on hand or mechanised ratts. The administration runs coir factories on several islands, and the fibre is the one manufactured export the territory has ever had.
Jewellery
Gold ear ornaments and chains, the standard store of household wealthGold neck ornament worn at Minicoy weddingsCoral and shell ornament, now made mainly for sale to visitors
Traditional dress of Lakshadweep — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (5)