The company Zeet Zeero has filed an application seeking Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Arunachal Pradesh’s textile product Apatani. The weave comes from the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. This woven fabric is known for its geometric and zigzag patterns and also for its angular designs. The Apatani community weaves its own textiles for various occasions, including rituals and cultural festivals. The tribe predominantly weaves shawls known as jig-jiro and jilan and jackets called supuntarii. The people here use different leaves and plant resources for organically dyeing the cotton yarns in their traditional ways. And only women folk are engaged in weaving. The traditional handloom of this tribe is a type of loin loom, which is called Chichin, and is similar to the traditional handloom of the Nyishi tribe. It is portable, easy to install and operated by a single weaver, especially the female member of the community.

Getting a GI tag for a product indicates that it originates from a particular territory in India and has unique characteristics or quality. Having a GI tag for a product prevents unauthorised use of a registered Geographical Indication by others, boosts exports of Indian Geographical Indications by providing legal protection and also enables seeking legal protection in other WTO member countries.