Khadi seeing good times
By Asha P.Nair
28th December 2010 05:18 AM
The branded shirts, Sarvodaya, on display at the ongoing Gandhi Utsav at Gandhi Bhavan.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Khadi is seeing good times, finally. Reasons may vary from the wear-khadi-on-Saturday campaign to the changing fashion fads, but it has been adorning more wardrobes recently. The Kerala Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi (KGSN) has decided to cash in on the trend and take khadi to those heights where it belongs.
The KGSN has branded its khadi ready-made wears and launched special kids, adults and ladies clothings in khadi woven out of its own manufacturing units. The kids khadi has been named ‘Sheetal,’ the men’s wear ‘Sarvodaya’ and the ladies wear, specially churidhars and salwars, ‘Surabhi.’
The branded ready-made clothings were launched as part of its diamond jubilee celebrations and are available at the Gandhi Bhavan’s ongoing Khadi fest. The fabrics in pure khadi are eco-friendly, cool to wear and elegant.
The khadi cloth woven in its manufacturing unit in Parassala is sent to Uttar Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh and printed or dyed to bring out the ready-made items. There are embroidered, hand-painted and pattern works spread over the ladies clothing that are exquisite and simply adorable.
‘‘Our khadi is pure, since its made exactly how Gandhiji wanted it to be. Since ready-mades have more takers now, we have decided to join with the changing trends and launch our ready-made clothings. Though we have been producing shirts earlier, it’s the first time we have branded them. The kids wear and ready-made salwar sets are being brought out by us for the first time,’’ said M.Shivashankaran, Joint Secretary of KGSN, who takes care of the khadi section.
The Sheetal clothing starts at a price range of ` 200 -300 but as of now are limited in production. The men’s wear starts from ` 700 and goes up to ` 3,000-4,000. Surabhi clothings are available from ` 750 to ` 3,000.
The ready-made stitching is done at Nidhi Garments, which is KGSN’s own garment manufacturing unit that works on the Gandhi Bhavan compound. There are nearly eight ladies here working to bring out the branded products. ‘‘More people are yet to know about them, but once they realise its elegance, they would go for it always,’’ said Sherifa, who does the Surabhi products.
Now, if you drop in at the Khadi fest and gets won over by a khadi material, Sherifa and the team would stitch it for you. The new varieties in khadi has been winning it more loyal fans, they say. Apart from the branded items, there are of course the wide variety of sarees starting from ` 1,250.
Though Nidhi garments have been working for two years now, KGSN’s khadi products are yet to receive its fair share of takers. For once, Gandhiji’s followers have realised that marketing the products are important too.
They are keeping their fingers crossed, wishing the branded ones would bring their khadi more success.
asha.nair@expressbuzz.com
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