Khadi revives fashionably to adorn global ramps

Promoted as Swadeshi fabric by Mahatma Gandhi, India’s humble khadi has innovated itself to be the favourite of fashion designers and fashionistas alike. Both from India and abroad, and it is now the most preferred choice on the global and Indian

fashion ramps.

Khadi’s fashion journey

Khadi, handspun cloth found in India and Pakistan is a warp-weft mix of cotton, silk or wool, spun into thread on the charkha. And the fabric was not just used for clothing but khadi, the rough-spun cloth became a movement. Launched in the late 1940s by Mahatma Gandhi, khadi clothes were used as a symbol of the Swadeshi movement to inspire people to stop using Western goods. It was khadi versus British mill cloth.

Thus infused with a strong touch of politics, khadi continues to be the Indian and sometimes South Asian politician’s sartorial statement. Of course, it’s a far finer cloth with a higher thread count today. It enjoys another political distinction: the Indian flag is allowed to be made only of khadi.

But after the glory of that movement was over, khadi was pushed onto the shelves of government-run textile emporiums and Khadi Gram Udyog Bhavans, where the bales gathered dust and drabness. The fabric entirely lacked demand.

Regaining glamour

Khadi has now made a comeback and how. While in 2001 Vasundhara Raje, the then minister of small scale industries decided to rope in designers like Rohit Bal and Malini Ramani to give it a new cool look, the act helped in giving the cloth a glamourous avatar. Standalone spaces like Khadi Store in Delhi’s tony Khan Market soon became a rage. Kurtas, kurtis, jackets, dhotis, saris made style statements while every designer was doing stuff with khadi.

Of course, one set of designers has always worked with khadi, the classicists rather than trend-tweakers. Neeru Kumar, Ritu Kumar, Pranavi Kapur and Madhu Jain knew the nature of khadi, and worked closely with the weavers. While Ritu Kumar vouches by the fabric’s ability to dye beautifully and its eco-friendly nature; designer Agnimitra Paul is all for the fabric’s versatility.

In the early 2000s, Rajkot-based Saurashtra Rachnatmak Samiti (SRS) also introduced khadi denim in the market to revive fabric’s sales. However, khadi stores selling dubious cloth have mushroomed all over and have become a threat to original Khadi Bhandars. According to the 2009-2010 report of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the value of khadi produced in the country fell from Rs 585.25 crores in 2008 to Rs 484.45 crores by December 2009; sales plummeted by Rs 40 crores.

On the other hand, according to designer Rohit Bal, khadi is India’s answer to linen and designers are trying to lead the fabric into the big league. However its roughness and wrinkling tendency are obstacles on the way. But khadi’s international connect has always been strong, given that John and William Bissel’s Fabindia, and Faith and John Singh’s Anokhi were early — and effective — promoters of the fabric. No wonder, Hollywood flicks like the Star Wars has used dyed khadi in some of the costumes. Bess Nielsen’s Paris store called Khadi & Co displays a carefully curated range of ensembles and high-end label Dosa stocks it too.

Last year, at both the Berlin Fashion Week and the New York Fashion Week, Gaurang Shah showcased a khadi line. This, of course, was a high thread-count khadi. Beyond clothing, at London’s perennial fave, the Conran Shop, Abraham & Thakore’s khadi cushions make a lovely display. Back home, a tile company offers a khadi line of sombre-hued tiles.

Textile revivalist Rta Kapur Chishti, a long-time fan of the fabric showcased as many as 108 different varieties woven across nine Indian states in an exhibition titled ‘Khadi: The Fabric of Freedom’. Even Sabyasachi Mukherjee has created embroidered khadi lehengas, while Bangalore’s Deepika Govind picked it up for the first time in 1999 and never looked back again. Then there is Tara Aslam of Nature Alley, who blends the relatively humble fabric to stylish silhouettes with finesse and the IN SYNC-Basant Anuj line is based on eco-friendly, handspun and skin-friendly qualities of it.

The fabric of ages is here to stay and rule…not only through political attires but through national and international fashion scenes.