Origin of khadi

In India, khadi is not just a cloth, it is a whole movement started by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The Khadi movement aimed at boycotting foreign goods and promoting Indian goods, thereby improving India's economy. Mahatma Gandhi began promoting the spinning of khadi for rural self-employment and self-reliance (instead of using cloth manufactured industrially in Britain) in 1920s India thus making khadi an integral part and icon of the Swadeshi movement. The freedom struggle revolved around the use of khadi fabrics and the dumping of foreign-made clothes. When some people complained about the costliness of khadi to Mahatma Gandhi, he started wearing only dhoti. Thus it symbolized the political ideas and independence itself, and to this day most politicians in India are seen only in khadi clothing. The flag of India is only allowed to be made from this material, although in practice many flag manufacturers, especially those outside of India, ignore this rule in recent years Khadi has seen a revival in India with many designers. Ever since Mahatma Gandhi made khadi an icon of self-reliance, the weave has become a fashion statement. The effect is highly noticeable in Ahmadabad with the sales of khadi going up by almost 20 per cent in last couple of years. One of the reasons also being that khadi is best suited to the intense summer here. The transformation of the fibres outlook has changed peoples perception of khadi as uniform of the politicians. Understanding the possible scope of the fibre, many leading Indian designers have included trendy and fashionable khadi clothes in their collection making it gain recognition in international markets. Khadi industry retail business was worth around Rs 60 crore in 2010-11 and this year it is likely to see a jump of another 15-20 per cent. Initially, the customers were not convinced of wearing such an organic looking fabric but with time they have realized its beauty and started liking its custom-made feel. Khadi is also becoming popular because of its eco friendly nature. Another reason for its growing demand is its availability in various striking colours. Today, because of its variations in style and texture, Khadi has made a strong presence in Indian wardrobe.

Khadi overview:
Khadi is a versatile fabric. It has the unique property of keeping the wearer warm in winter as well as cool in summer season. This fabric has coarse texture and gets easily crumpled, therefore in order to keep it firm and stiff, starch is to be added. This fabric on washing is more enhanced thus the more you wash it, better the look. Khadi is not easily worn out for years together, at least for 4-5 years. Very attractive and designer apparel are made by doing handwork on them garments made from it. Khadi spinning is generally done by girls and women and weaving mostly by men. During spinning of khadi the threads are interwoven in such a manner that it provides passage of air circulation in the fabric. Apart from this unique property, it also provides warmth in winter season which is quite surprising factor. Khadi cotton is required to be starched so that it does not get easily crumpled. It comes in many colors and is not harmful to the skin as synthetic fabrics. This cotton is very soothing in summer season as ample amount of air ventilation is there, it has the capacity to absorb moisture therefore it easily soaks the sweat and keeps the wearer cool and dry. Khadi cotton comes in plain as well as in printed fabrics. It is a very durable fabric. In khadi silk, the ratio of khadi and silk fabric is 50:50. This fabric requires dry cleaning. It shrinks about 3% after the first wash. It is quite an expensive fabric. Khadi silk provides a royal and rich look.

Support from KVIC in promoting Khadi internationally:

Three registered brands are being used by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), exclusively for products under the purview of KVI sector. KVIC takes part in international trade fairs and exhibitions where, branded products, including khadi items, are widely exhibited. Delegations of Export oriented Units/Institutions registered with KVIC/State/Union Territory Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs) are also provided financial assistance to participate in the international exhibitions. For promotion of export of khadi and village industry products, KVIC provides cash incentives to the registered exporting institutions and individual entrepreneurs at the rate of 5 per cent of the `free on board` (FOB) value of exported items. KVIC has launched Mission Khadi to convert the khadi fabric into ready-made garments of latest designs under the recommendation of expert designers required for the units, training of people engaged in such projects, etc.

BRAND: XXXYYY About The Brand: "XXXYYY" is a sustainable fashion brand that has conceptualized out of a desire to create a positive, sustainable future with commitment to traditional techniques. "xxxyyy" is for people who want a natural and eco-friendly easy care wardrobe for their every need that expresses their individual style and unique personality. "xxxyyy" brand offers a season-less sensibility, a modern way to dress... liberated from a lot of fashion trends... being classic while still being fashion-forward. We believe that you don't have to give up quality, luxury and great design to be good to the planet as we design for LONGEVITY, without compromising performance and style. "xxxyyy" USP lies in its fabric, which is quite extraordinary and exceptional CRAFTED BY MOST PERFECT MACHINE: Human hands. It is the only fabric where the play of texture is so unique that no two fabrics will be absolutely identical thus lending it exclusivity and inimitability in terms of fabric and texture. 5 KEY BRAND STRENGHTS: WEIGHT LESS WONDER: Khadi fabric is "hand spun hand woven wonder"-exceptional, exclusive and inimitable. It weighs almost half the weight of a fabric of any other quality. LIGHT AS AIR: The moisture retaining capacity of the fabric gives coolness and comfort during summer. The loosely spun yarn retains oxygen, making fabrics airy and light. VIRTUALLY ZERO CARBON FOOT PRINT: No machine is being used right from the yarn making to fabric weaving. It's a unique creation by hand. SEASON-LESS SENSIBILITIES: Our designs in textiles and garments can be worn in any season due to its fabric characteristics. INNOVATIVE HAND-BLOCK CONTEMPORARY PRINTS in natural dyes EXPERIMENTING AND KEEP ON CONCEPTUALIZING NEW HAND-CRAFTED TECHNIQUES in our collections story of the individual who spins it. The "xxxyyy" clothes are a repository of human experience and goodwill; each thread is spun with the, story of the individual who spins it. We convinced that we are weaving more than cloth; we are also weaving a social fabric that celebrates diversity, encourage tolerance and

promotes compassionate community.

Key Brand Proposition "XXXYYY" is the symbolism of "HAND SPUN HAND WOVEN WONDER". Khadi was the humble weapon of Mahatma Gandhi who believed in non-violence to attain Swaraj. Gandhi asserted that in the Indian villages there existed a perfect system of reciprocity in their exchange services and commodities. There was no competition, and machines were nonexistent. Gandhi believed that vestiges of such an ideal system still existed and it was necessary to revive that system if India was ever going to attain swaraj. For him Swadeshi would be the stepping stone to swaraj. We want to have close links with local communities. We did not want our product just to be another international brand, we want to have an active role in supporting tradition. It is one reason why we call our business a NOT-JUST-FOR-PROFIT company. "XXXYYY" with its Endeavour wants to keep this very own identity of our humble, freedom, desi, SWADESHI fabric KEEPING THIS VERY OWN IDENTITY OF KHADI "xxxyyy" HAS GIVEN IT A NEW DIMENSION AND MODERN AESTHETICS SENSE, WHICH WILL ALWAYS BE creative, crafting quality, classic, innovative and with modern outlook. It will have no limitation in terms of designs and imagination and incomparable with the modern mill-made fabrics. Teasers

MEN 1) SHIRTS - $ 20 TO $50 (PARTY SHIRTS/ CASUALSHIRT) 2) KURTAS - $ 10 TO $50 ( SIMPLE/ EMBROIDERED/SHORT KURTAS) 3) BLAZERS - $160 TO $500 ( CORPORATES & PARTY WEAR) 4) WAIST COATS-JACKETS.-$30 TO $50 ( CORPORATES & FUNCTION WEAR) 5) SCARVES. - $5 TO $14 (LONG + SHORT) WOMEN 1) SHIRTS -$20 TO $50 (PARTY SHIRTS/ CASUALSHIRT) 2) KURTAS - $10 TO $50 ( SIMPLE/ EMBROIDERED/SHORT KURTAS) 3) BLAZERS - $160 TO $500 ( OFFICIAL & PARTY WEAR) 4) WAIST COATS-JACKETS.--$30 TO $50 ( PARTY WEAR) 5) SCARVES.- $5 TO $14 (LONG + SHORT) ACCESSORIES 1) HAND BAGS & CLUTCHES IN KHADI. Why? Production Centers Khadi fabrics are produced in India. Almost every States in India produces Khadi, but differs from each other in their weaving style and fiber mix. Characteristics Cool in summers and warm in winters.

Very light and airy. Soft feel texture and versatile fabric. .Maintenance Dry clean your Khadi garments or wash in cold water with mild soap. Starch your Khadi garments to remove crumple from it. Do not wring excess water out. Dry fabric in shade as sun may cause color fabric to fade. Wash dark colors separately and never use chemical bleach. Types of fabric: Poly Khadi Fabrics Poly Khadi Fabrics We are involved in offering cotton khadi fabric that are weaved by our team of rural artisans. Having a smooth finish, these cotton khadi fabric, khadi cloth are soft, durable and comfortable and extensively used to manufacture variety of garments. Further, we also offer customized solutions as per the specific requirements of our customers. Making of Khadi fabric Khadi. Even in the 21st century, this word evokes instantly for most Indians, the image and sensation of a robust, home-spun cotton fabric. A cloth that is porous, cool, and absorbent when worn in India's scorching summers but also surprisingly insular in its winter chill. A more distant, and now fading, impression is one of Khadi as "the livery of India's freedom", of Mahatma Gandhi clothing with consummate vision, an entire struggle for national independence. Whether acknowledged as a material product, a cultural symbol cotton Khadi derives its distinctiveness, ultimately, from a single textile process: hand-spinning. It is the processing of cotton fibre into yarn by human hands that has endowed with its multiple guises and varied appeal. Repeated washing serves only to enhance these, to the extent that the fabric assumes, over time, a texture as natural and soothing as skin. In India, state control over Khadi, under the aegis of the khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) since 1956 and has facilitated a number of technological changes in its pre-spinning and spinning processes. Cotton picking: Cotton seeds with their fibres are picked from the boll or pod, by hand. Unless care is taken, picking invariably collects alongwith the seed cotton fragments of dried leaves, stalks and other debris.

Opening and cleaning baled cotton: Bales of cotton received at the production centres are generally broken by hand and separated into large slabs of fibre. These are then puton ironmesh frames and beaten with a stick in order to loosen and open out the fibres. The mesh acts as a sieve, separating out much of the remaining trash and debris from the fibre. At centres which produce muslin khadi, the fibre is cleaned and ginned by hand to minimize damage and maintain the extra cleanliness necessary for hand-spinning the fines yarns. For opening, small lumps of freshly hand-cleaned and hand-ginned cotton are whipped with a thin stick to gently separate out the fibres.

Ginning: After harvesting the seed cotton, it must be ginned, a process which separates the fibres from the seed and removes most of the larger fragments of trash. In oldest surviving Indian method of ginning cotton is a simple, but very effective one. It requires first preparing the seed cotton by picking out carefully any large pieces of trash. For ginning, each combed seed is laid in turn on a patri, a wooden plank, and rolled, in the manner of kitchen dough, with a salai, or heavy iron pin. The action separates the fibres from the seed cleanly but gently. A speedier method used in some areas involves an "otni", or wooden roller gin. The rotation, by hand, of two closely set, toothed, wooden rollers, mounted on a frame, draws the fibres between them but prevents seeds and other bulky trash from passing through. This method has been found particularly effective for preparing extra-long staple cotton fibres(such as of the variety of Suvin) for spinning the very fine yarns needed for "muslin" khadi.

Carding : The carding process eliminates the final traces of trash from the opened fibres, separates them out fully from remaining tufts and lumps, eliminates the shortest and immature fibres, and prepares the material into a "silver", a loose,

rope-like form suitable for drawing, the next process.

In India, cotton was hand-carded with the aid of a "dhunki" or carding bow. Traditional carders plucked the bow string with their hands or struck it with a wooden mallet and applied the vibrations to a mass of cleaned fibre. The vibrations fully separated out the fibre strands into a loose, airy mass. There, after bow carding, the mass of separated fibres is gently rolled onto a polished wooden dowel. The dowel is then removed, leaving a sliver of fibres in the shape of a hollow cylinder, a ready-to-use form for spinning on a traditional wheel.

Drawing and combing: For the production of very fine, strong, and even yarns, the fibres must be further "combed" in order to remove the shorter strands. The process enables a very high degree of parallelization of fibres which, when combined with the removal of short fibres, yields strong, even yarns of a smooth, silky texture.

Roving: The roving process takes the drafted sliver and thins it out further by employing, once again, increasingly fast sets of rollers. A slight twist is

imparted at the same time in order to strengthen it. Throughout the drafting and twisting process, the size or diameter of the roving strand is calculated and controlled to yield, in spinning, the desired weight of yarn. Rovings are wound on to bobbins ready for spinning. In Khadi hand-driven "belnis" or roving frames have been in use. These generally have 4 or 8 spindles to draw out and twist several rovings at the same time.

Spinning: Using a spindle renders spinning a speedier and continuous process. The basic devise is a rotating stick, varying in length from 6 to 18 inches and tapered at both ends. At the top, there is usually a notch to hold the yarn while it is being spun. Between the middle portion and the lower end is a whorl, or circular tablet of clay, wood, bone, or metal, whose weight keeps the spindle rotating once it has been set in motion. For ease of rotation, the pointed lower end may be rested on a piece of shell or some such smooth material. The act of spinning draws out from a sliver a stream of fibre and imparts to them, at the same time, a twist to hold them together and give the drawn yarn strength. As the spinner's fingers draw out the fibres from the sliver or roving, the fibres acquire twist from the rotating spindle. The hand-held Indian spindle, takli or takua, has been credited with the production of the finest yarns spun in history. While its use for hand-spinning cotton is India had declined greatly by the mid 19th century. Now the spindle was mounted on a frame and rotated manually by turning an attached wheel. Known as the Charkha, this device enabled spinning to proceed faster and yield, generally, a more uniform yarn. Despite regional variations in size and appearance, the Khada same or vertical charkha employed everywhere the same principle of operation. A large wooden wheel rotated vertically on an iron axle mounted between a pair of vertical wooden pegs. The wheel drove, in turn, a spindle mounted horizontally between two smaller pegs. A continuous cotton twine transmitted the action of the rotating wheel to the spindle.

Warping: Hanks of yarn are first sorted out according to variations in count and quality. The cleanest and most evenly-spun grades are selected for warp yarns, i.e., those that are held under tension during weaving and therefore, require the greatest strength. These are soaked in a mild, one or two percent of solution of washing soda to remove the natural waxes and other hydrophobic impurities present in the fibres and maximize their absorbency for the next preparatory process. Sizing: Warp yarns of cotton require a dressing, or "sizing", with an adhesive material to strengthen their resistance to abrasion during weaving. The liquid sizing materials penetrate through the pores in the yarn causing fibres to adhere strongly to each other. Traditionally, starches derived from a variety of natural resources such as maize, rice, wheat, and tapioca have been used as size. Several types of natural gum have been used as well. An effective sizing medium developed for khadi uses equal quantities of maize and tamarind seed powders mixed with small amounts of gum and coconut oil. For proper consistency and smoothness, the sizing ingredients are filtered and boiled. To ensure perfect penetration, the hanks must be stirred continuously in the medium, beaten lightly after removal, and also turned and shaken periodically while drying. They are then wound onto bobbins, ready for warping.