Handloom sarees will have pin marks or holes on equal distance on top or bottom near the borders, since they are woven by pinning the saree to the loom. Power-loom sarees lack these as they are flawless.

Sri Lanka has a historical connection to handlooms and the loom had been portrayed generously in local myths and legends. With records of Sri Lanka trading vividly designed cotton textiles with India and China as far as 1000 years ago, the country has been known as a hotspot of textile manufacturing.