Modi effect: Khadi a hit among fashionistas, may soon have stores in Paris, Dubai

Representative Image.

Khadi is no longer content staying in the shadows, it is making strong, confident strides, branding itself in trendy fashion circles and it is staying for long in the fashionista's wardrobe.

Eyeing their first set of global stores in Paris and Dubai by the end of this year Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is pursuing its growth trajectory at an aggressive rate.

“The remarkable growth that Khadi has witnessed in the recent past is only due to the comprehensive attitude of our prime mister to attain growth. He has not only made Khadi a signature fabric for the people-particularly the millennial with his appeal, Khadi has also become a model of socio-economic independence,” said KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena.

Taking off from dressing the staff of Air India One, Prime Minister’s official carrier, the fabric has also been sported by Bollywood celebs like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor. With fashion designer Ritu Beri being brought on board of KVIC by the Modi government and the Khadi Mark mandate- the once known tough cotton Khaddar is evolving as brand Khadi.

Beri’s exclusive Khadi collection ‘VicharVastra’ did business worth Rs 78 lakh in 2016 and a similar collection with a new idea is being designed for this year’s fall collection.

The Modi effect

Since 2014, sales of Khadi clothes have jumped by close to 70 percent and the department attributes this to the growing interest taken by the Modi government in promoting Khadi as a brand not just in India but internationally.

Having clocked sales worth Rs 2,005 crore in 2016-17 as against Rs 1,510 crore in the previous fiscal, KVIC is targeting Rs 5,000 crore in sales by the end of 2018-2019.

Large orders from corporates are a part of Khadi’s success story. While organisations like ONGC, Air India, Indian Railways and others have given out orders to KVIC, institutions like IIT Bombay and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India have also moved to using only Khadi gowns and shawls for their annual convocation ceremonies.

Joining the bandwagon, even private brands are leaving no stone unturned to glamourize the fabric. For instance, Arvind Ltd has promised to order 1 million metres of fabric from KVIC worth Rs 40 crore and plans to use it exclusively for their Khadi denim collection.

Major brands like Raymonds, Allen Solly and Turtle have also joined hands with Khadi.

“We let the company select their fabric and allow them design intervention to make the fabric fashionable and commercially viable,” added Saxena.

Raymonds has already placed orders worth Rs 6 crore over a period of two years for a mixed bag collection.

With the addition of 286 new stores in the last 3 years, KVIC is now experimenting with lounge format stores called ‘Khadi India Lounge’ to target upmarket clientele.

The first set of these lounges have been set up in Delhi, Mumbai and Jaipur at an investment of close to Rs 25 lakh each. Similar stores will be set up in Bhopal, Goa and Lucknow by the end of the year.