Designer khadi denim set to revive Mahatma's legacy

Ahmedabad: The traditional khadi popularized by the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, has been reinvented in the form of ‘khadi denim’ with a view to boost sales in today’s competitive market flooded with national and international apparel brands. Rajkot based Saurashtra Rachnatmak Samiti (SRS) introduced khadi denim in the market about eight months back,which is now proving to be a hit. Gandhi used khadi as a tool to fight against the British rule and made the khadi-producing ‘charkha’ a symbol of the Indian non-violent freedom movement. He promoted khadi as a means of self-employment for people, that was ultimately aimed at reviving the villages. On Gandhi’s call, Indian people renounced Britain imported cloth to take up khadi, bankrupting Manchester in the process. [caption id=“attachment_109271” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Mahatma Gandhi promoted khadi as a means of self-employment for people. Getty Images”]  [/caption] However, after witnessing khadi sales dwindling over the past few years, SRS decided to give a modern touch to the traditional cloth to revive it. “Year after year, the sale of khadi has been decreasing and more and more people associated with the khadi industry are leaving the profession,” said SRS Chairman Davendra Desai. “This made us think about how to arrest the decline in sale and save the livelihood of the people. We decided to give khadi more of a modern and 21st century make-over by producing designer dress, shirts and khadi denim, instead of only the traditional kurta-pyjamas,” Desai said. “Out of all these products, khadi denim has been a hit in sales at all our outlets in Gujarat. Now, the biggest denim player in the market, Arvind Mills, has contacted us for mass-scale production of khadidenims,” he said. However, Desai adds that it was not an easy task to make khadi denim popular among people. “First of all, we had to make a different kind of khadi, so that it can match the denims available in the market. We produced quality material from which strong and durable trousers could be made,” he said. “To popularize it was a herculean task, so we decided to hold fashion shows, with models walking on the ramp, wearing new khadi products, including khadi denim,” Desai said, adding that well publicized fashion shows in big cities brought people’s attention to khadi denims. An enterprising designer took the khadi denim concept to Paris textile show, which aroused international interest in the product. “The sales in our outlet grew after fashion-conscious people came to our stores to try something new. Khadi denim is one of the growing products to have good sales across our outlets and others in Gujarat have followed us,” Desai said. “Last year, we had introduced two colors, white and black of khadi denims. But due to the demand, they are now available in six colours,” he said. “We are soon going to sign an MoU with Arvind Mills, which has shown interest in mass scale production of khadi denim, for supply of 5,000 metres of cloth every month,” Desai said. “This development is likely to revive the khadi industry and create more self-employment opportunities for the people,” he added. PTI