Khadi – the social fabric of India

India is a land of contradictions. Recently I read that India has put a satellite into orbit around Mars, two days after the United States’ same achievement and at 11% of the cost. Meanwhile in the same country there are people who welcome the opportunity for meaningful work – spinning cotton and hand-looming beautiful cloth. What a spectrum of contrast.

Olive Brown Khadi table mat with my favourite japanese tea cup

Cream Khadi with Stripes

Khadi Cushion

Easy Khadi Chair Cover

Khadi Olive Brown

Khadi Navy Stripes – finished fabric

“Khadi” means hand spun and hand woven cloth. However it is more than just cloth, it is an ideology. Khadi has been held aloft as a movement since the times of Mahatma Gandhi, in 1918. Gandhi saw the spinning and weaving of cloth as an opportunity to recover a textiles industry that had been crushed during the British colonialism; an industry that could provide work and an independent future for the poor people of India. In the context of a country that was heavily divided by a complex and entrenched class system, Gandhi saw the labour of hand spinning as a dignified and uniting practice that could assist in breaking down the barriers between the classes. In so many ways Gandhi’s dreams for India came true, and so it is that the “Khadi” became known as the “social fabric” of India.

There are still people in India, one hundred years on, who benefit from the ideology of khadi, and who – despite the industrialisation of the textiles industry across India – rely upon the handicraft industries to make a dignified living.

This is what we choose to support when we buy khadi, or any hand made fabric for that matter. It is not just about buying some lovely and unique fabric, but also about choosing to keep people in meaningful and fair employment – and all of us in the developed world have the power to do that!

So saying, following is a lovely photo story, telling the story of our latest shipment of beautiful cotton khadi upholstery fabric. I hope you get as excited about it as we are!