Making khadi great in 2026: Indian designers highlight why they work with the fabric

The story of khadi is woven into our history Unfortunately it mostly makes news only when wanting to give a history lesson for special days But some designers choose to continue working with the freedom fabric As we celebrate the 157th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi three designers discuss their choice of designing with khadilsquoKhadi is a sentimentrsquoShruti SanchetiDesigner Shruti Sancheti has been working with only Indian weaves like khadi and other fabrics for two decades for her label Pinnacle and Across 29 ldquoKhadi is not a fabric it is a sentiment If there was ever something that could be called our national fabric for me it would be khadirdquoShruti SanchetiHaving grown up in Kolkata and studied History honours before studying fashion Sancheti cherishes the significance of khadi even more deeply This narrative very often makes people think khadi is boring or humble but it is a versatile fabric and can be beautiful and luxurious too she says Khadi also appeals to the environmentally conscious buyer today But designers need to give it a contemporary expression and work on textile innovationsldquoI donrsquot think khadi itself needs to be made fashionable What needs to change is the way we interpret it for todayrsquos lifestyle through silhouettes colours and value addition The fabric is timeless the expression around it needs to keep evolvingrdquoThe bigger challenge is that the weavers she works with are often the last generation willing to take up weaving ldquoWe need to educate the global audience about khadi beyond its historic relevance It needs to be a collective effort between the government designers and weavers to promote khadi educate people and make it accessible to a wider audiencerdquo She sees khadi entering a new era though ldquoKhadi has never been more relevant In a world facing climate change sustainability is no longer a trend It is a necessityrdquolsquoCraft doesnrsquot need sympathy It needs relevancersquoAmritha RamAmritha Ram the creative director of KH House of Khaddar believes the next chapter of khadi is about reinvention without erasure ldquoYou donrsquot have to remove its history to make it modern You simply have to give it permission to have a futurerdquo Khadi she says carries its history without being trapped by it and can be used in a contemporary spaceAmritha RamldquoThe real luxury of khadi is not perfection it is individualityrdquo The challenge is keeping the craftsmanship economically relevant in a world that expects everything to be faster cheaper and uniform ldquoHandwoven cloth cannot compete with machines on speed and I donrsquot think it should have to As designers our responsibility is to create enough value around the craft that the people who make it are valued toordquo says RamSustainability cannot be only about the fabric It must also be about the people who make buy and wear them she adds It is not enough to commission a handwoven fabric for one collection and then disappear ldquoWeavers need consistent work better visibility and a market that understands why handmade cloth should command a different valuerdquo says RamHouse of Khaddar believes that the next chapter of khadi is about reinvention without erasureThe craft needs to be made aspirational for the next generation If younger people see weaving as something that offers neither financial security nor growth naturally they will look elsewhere she rues ldquoPreserving a craft cannot mean asking another generation to preserve it at their own economic expenserdquo she says ldquoThat has changed the way I look at my responsibility as a designer I donrsquot want to use khadi simply because it gives a collection a beautiful story I want design to create desire for the fabric because desire creates demand and demand creates continuity Craft doesnrsquot need sympathy It needs relevance demand and fair value Khadi should be allowed to be desirable before it is dutifulrdquo she sums uplsquoThe anonymity of the weaver is an ethical issuersquoShafaque AliKhadi has memory says designer Shafaque Ali founder of the label SHAFAQUE ldquoMost textiles are engineered for identical production runs Khadi after 10 years of use looks more interesting than it did on the first day The weave softens where it has been worn The colour deepens where it has caught the lightrdquo says AlildquoI grew up in Jharkhand where handloom was not heritage mdash it was simply the way cloth was made My motherrsquos generation bought khadi because it was available not because it was symbolic It wasnrsquot until much later when I was studying in Florence and working in New York that I understood what had been lost in my own distance from itrdquoActor and filmmaker Molshri wearing a khadi ensemble by SHAFAQUE at Cannes 2026She says that there is something scientific about the way handspun cotton absorbs dye differently from millspun cotton mdash the irregularity creates depth that no synthetic process can replicate Ali says that the nature of the fabric is not a problem to be solved you work with it rather than around itKhadi from different regions behaves differently she uses the denser weave from Wardha for her structural pieces and Bengal khadi which is softer for layering against the skin At her showcase in Paris mdash part of The Couture Concord which she hosted as a CCIFI FranceIndia Young Talent during the IndiaFrance Year of Innovation Ali stopped trying to match dye lots and started naming each piece individuallyShafaque AliKhadi weavers still face a recognition crisis she says she raised this concern at the 16th Round Table Conference of the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva last year ldquoThe anonymity of the weaver is an ethical and a commercial problem And lowering prices is not the solutionrdquoAli includes a narrative record with every garment aligned with the EU Digital Product Passport framework a necessity for her to scale into Europe ldquoKhadi has been confined for too long to a certain silhouette vocabulary mdash the conventional ethnic register That is not khadirsquos limitation That is the design communityrsquos limitationrdquoNatural phenomenon like El Nintildeo also affect khadi production The majority of Indiarsquos cotton for khadi spinning is almost entirely rainfed ldquoEl Nintildeo is not an abstract environmental concern for khadi It is a direct threat to the livelihoods of lakhs of artisansrdquo