Styling with Khadi

During the fashion show eight sequences like Make in India , Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Videsh se swadesh, Woollen wear, bridal wear were presented by leading fashion models. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) of MSME Government of India participated in the 35th edition of India International Trade Fair (IITF) organised from November 14th to 27th at  Pragati Maidan. This year, the theme of IITF-2015 was “MAKE IN INDIA”. KVIC has set up biggest ever exclusive pavilion. The sales in khadi pavilion recorded approximately 20 lakh per day. 

Giriraj Singh Minister of State for MSME, inaugurated Khadi fashion show as chief guest in presence of Vinai Kumar Saxena, Chairman, KVIC  along with Anup K. Pujari, Secretary, B.H. Anil Kumar Jt. Secretary MSME and, Arun Kumar Jha, Chief Executive Officer, KVIC graced the occasion.

First time in Khadi Pavilion a large statue of Mahatma Gandhi was put up at the main entrance of the Hall for  taking “selfie with Gandhiji”. This had become hotspot of the pavilion, as people from all age groups visited and took selfie with Gandhi ji in different poses. First time two hundred participants’, i.e artisans, craftsmen and khadi institutions from across the country had put up their most exclusive products in the pavilion. Ten nationalized banks have also associated with KVIC as sponsors and had put-up their stalls inside the pavilion. First time, the technical demonstration of spinning and weaving of khadi has been displayed in the Pavilion. 

In India, Khadi is not just a cloth, it is a whole movement started by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The Khadi movement promoted an ideology, an idea that Indians could be self-reliant on cotton and be free from the high priced goods and clothes which the British were selling to them. The British would buy cotton from India at cheap prices and export them to Britain where they were woven to make clothes. These clothes were then brought back to India to be sold at hefty prices. The khadi movement aimed at boycotting foreign goods including cotton 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.