Update your khadi wardrobe
From jumpsuits to saris in the labour-intensive Jamdani styletry our shopping guide for the best of Khadi's contemporary avatars
u Rajesh Pratap Singh
Singh works with fine counts of Khadi that go up to 500. His next collection has vegetable-dyed, hand-stitched shirts in a 300-yarn count.
Pratap stores. Shirts start at ₹ 11,000.
u Bungalow 8
For Khadi dresses, jumpsuits, skirts, pants, shirts and kurtas for men and women, try Mathieu Leguillon’s garments at Bungalow 8. Leguillon works with lightweight Ikat cottons, usually in patterns of woven stripes, checks and graphic textures. Injiri, a Khadi-only line by designer Chinar Farooqui, also retails here.
Bungalow 8, Colaba, Mumbai. Garments in cotton Khadi start at ₹ 5,000, and in Khadi silk at ₹ 8,000.
u Sabyasachi
Sabyasachi stores. Menswear kurtas start at ₹ 19,500, and Khadi saris with embellished borders start at ₹ 29,500.
uAbraham and Thakore
Made in Tussar Khadi, A&T’s Autumn/Winter 2011-2012 collection consisted of fitted jackets, bundi jackets, skinny pants and kurta-dresses. A&T like the fabric’s rough texture and mostly source handwoven Khadi from Khadi Gramodyog or Rta Kapur Chishti.
Made to order at A&T stores countrywide. Garments start at ₹ 6,000.
u Ekaya
Coarse, textured and hand-spun, Khadi saris at Ekaya are woven in the labour-intensive and time-consuming Jamdani style. Each sari takes over 90 days or 700 man hours. In a colour palette of dusty black, dark blue, brown and purple, they come with pure zari borders.
Ekaya, Defence Colony, New Delhi. Saris start at ₹ 50,000.
u Good Earth
The store sources its Khadi directly from weavers in Wardha, Maharashtra, and Murshidabad, West Bengal. The fabric ranges from fine muslin Khadi with a thread count of 150, to the heavier yarn of dosuti. We like the hand-spun and handwoven Khadi kurtas in embroidered Chikankari motifs like tepchi (a fine stem stitch), bakhia (shadow-work), and more.
Good Earth stores. Kurtas start at ₹ 3,200, and trousers at ₹ 2,800.
u WomenWeave
Madhya Pradesh-based charitable trust WomenWeave supplies both organic yarn as well as non-organic azo, hand-spun yarn with natural dyes, free to a host of retailers here and abroad. A not-for-profit organization, it supports women weavers’ communities in central India, and includes health, childcare and education in its wage plans. It produces scarves, stoles, saris and yardage.
At Bombay Electric, Mumbai; Weavers Studio, Kolkata; Kamala, New Delhi; Oberoi Hotel boutiques and Nalli stores. Also, at Womenweave.org. Product range starts at ₹ 1,500.
u Weavers Studio
For a fresh perspective of Bengal’s Jamdani weave, Weavers Studio does a white-on-white weave in Khadi. Stoles, tunics, headscarves, rumaals, the finest of which go up to a count of 500, are all spun, reeled and woven by hand.
At Weavers Studio, 5/1, Anil Moitra Road, Kolkata. Starts at ₹ 2,500.
u Padmaja Krishnan
Cotton Khadi grungy shirts, asymmetric kurtas and pintuck tunics with detailing on the cuffs and buttonholes—Krishnan’s designs add a quirk to traditional garments.
At Mélange, Altamount Road, Mumbai; Cinnamon, Walton Road, Bangalore; and Anonym, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. The product range starts at ₹ 6,000.
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