What Is Khadi?

Why is khadi linked to Indian independence?

Khadi is linked to Indian independence because Mahatma Gandhi made hand-spinning and hand-weaving a political programme of self-reliance, and the cloth became, in the V&A’s words, “a symbol of the Indian Independence movement”. It still carries strong patriotic associations in India.

For Gandhi, khadi stood for more than cloth. In Constructive Programme he called it “the symbol of unity of Indian humanity, of its economic freedom and equality”, and he quoted Jawaharlal Nehru’s phrase “the livery of India’s freedom”. He tied it to a “Swadeshi mentality”: the determination to find all the necessities of life in India, made in villages rather than centralised mills.

Khadi did not begin with Gandhi

Hand-spun, hand-woven cloth is far older than the independence campaign. The V&A holds a length of plain-woven, undyed cotton from Ahmedabad dated about 1867 shown under a gallery label headed “Khadi Cloth”, and its label notes that the museum collected khadi “long before Gandhi promoted” it. The same label records that fine khadi cost more than imported mill cloth, while rough khadi was cheaper but unappealing to wear.

How Gandhi’s revival started

Gandhi’s own account puts the revival in Gujarat in the late 1910s. He wrote that he described the spinning wheel in Hind Swaraj in 1908 without remembering ever having seen one, and that even on his return from South Africa in 1915 he had not seen one. At Sabarmati the ashram set up handlooms and resolved to wear only hand-woven cloth made from Indian yarn, but it still had no spinning wheel. After he met Gangabehn Majmundar in 1917, she found spinning wheels stored away in Vijapur, in Baroda State, and villagers agreed to spin again. The ashram’s first khadi cost 17 annas a yard and was only 30 inches wide.

How is khadi made?

Khadi is made by spinning cotton, silk or wool into yarn by hand in India, then weaving that yarn on a handloom in India; Indian law requires both steps.

Gandhi listed the full chain for cotton khadi: growing, picking, ginning, cleaning, carding, slivering, spinning, sizing, dyeing, preparing the warp and weft, weaving and washing. He treated every step except dyeing as essential. In his autobiography he describes replacing mill-made slivers with cotton carded by hand, because he wanted the whole process free of the mill.

The Khadi Mark Regulations, 2013, set the production rules in force as of 2026:

• Hand-spun yarn only. Khadi must use S-twist (“ulta bat”) yarn made by hand spinning alone.
• No electric power. Electricity may not run the traditional or multi-spindle charkhas (spinning wheels) or the looms weaving hand-spun yarn in both warp and weft, unless the regulations provide otherwise.

What are the properties of khadi?

The properties of khadi depend on the fibre and the fineness of the hand-spun yarn, because the legal definition fixes how the cloth is made, not what it feels like.

• Fibre. Khadi can be cotton, silk, wool or a mixture of any two or all three. Cotton khadi behaves like cotton cloth; silk khadi like silk.
• Fineness. It ranges from coarse to fine. The V&A shows a rough and a fine khadi side by side, both collected before Gandhi promoted the cloth, and Gandhi described the ashram’s first cloth as coarse.
• Width. Gandhi’s early ashram khadi was 30 inches wide, too narrow for his dhoti, until weavers produced 45-inch lengths.

Fine khadi is not a budget cloth. The V&A notes that it features in luxury garments, and that khadi saris tend to be bought by connoisseurs who value the skill and the cost of the labour.

How is khadi graded or measured?

Khadi is described by the count of its yarn, a measure of how fine the yarn is, along with its fibre and the density and width of the cloth.

Under the Khadi Mark Regulations, sellers in India must display the yarn count and the fibre variety on khadi products. They must also keep records of the ends per inch (warp threads), picks per inch (weft threads) and width, and give these to buyers on request.

How does khadi appear on a clothing label?

In India, khadi appears on a Khadi Mark tag or label, because the regulations forbid selling any textile as khadi without one.

The Khadi Mark is a mark specified by the Central Khadi Mark Committee and registered under the regulations, and producers must attach it to every piece of khadi and every khadi product. The product must also show:

• the yarn count;
• whether the fibre is cotton, wool, silk or a combination;
• the name of the producing institution;
• the year and place of production.

“Khadi” names a way of making cloth, not a fibre. The fibre on the label is always cotton, silk, wool or a blend of them; a garment listing linen, hemp or polyester is not khadi under the Indian definition, however it looks.

How do you tell good khadi from poor khadi?

Read the tag before you touch the cloth: genuine khadi sold in India carries a Khadi Mark tag or label with its yarn count, fibre, maker and year of production.

• Find the Khadi Mark. No mark on a shirt, kurta or sari sold as khadi in India is a red flag. Small items such as handkerchiefs and dusters are exempt from hang tags and sew-in labels, so a missing tag there is not.
• Check the fibre line. It should name only cotton, silk, wool or a combination of them. Any other fibre rules out khadi.
• Note the count and the maker. A named certified khadi institution, a year and a place give you something to check. Vague origins do not.
• Ask for the construction. Sellers must keep the ends per inch, picks per inch and width on record and share them on request. Comparing two pieces this way tells you which is the denser weave.
• Buy from certified makers. A certified khadi institution is one enlisted with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) or a Khadi and Village Industries Board, and holding a valid khadi certificate. Buying from them supports the spinners and weavers the system was built for.

The Khadi Mark scheme is Indian. Outside India, ask the seller for the same details the regulations require; a maker who can name the spinning and weaving source is more credible than a label reading only “khadi”.

How do you care for khadi?

Care for khadi according to its fibre, which the label must state: cotton, silk and wool khadi each need the care their fibre needs. Follow the maker’s care instructions and the fibre line on the label.

Is khadi sustainable?

Khadi’s spinning and weaving are human-powered by regulation, but the legal definition says nothing about how the fibre is grown or dyed, so its overall impact depends on the maker.

The regulations bar electricity from the charkhas and from looms weaving hand-spun yarn in both warp and weft. Gandhi’s model was decentralised village production, with each village making its own necessities. Fibre farming is another matter: the Act does not require organic cotton or natural dyes. Some makers choose them; the V&A’s khadi sari by the Delhi company Taanbaan is described as hand-woven from hand-spun organic cotton. Ask how the fibre was grown and dyed rather than assuming.