Khadi (Khadi) or Khaddar (Khadi) is a term for hand-woven fabric and hand from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan mainly made from cotton.
The fabric is usually woven from cotton and can also include silk, or wool, which are all spun into yarn on a spinning wheel called a charkha. It is a versatile fabric, cool in summer and warm in winter. In order to improve appearance, khdd / khaddar is sometimes starchy to give it a more rigid feel. It is widely accepted in fashion circles.
Khadi is being promoted in India by Khadi and the People's Industries Commission, MSME Govt Ministry. from India.
In India, Khadi is not just a cloth, it is a movement started by Mohandas Gandhi. The Khadi movement promoted a sociocultural aesthetic, an idea that Indians could be self-sufficient in cotton and be free of strange cloth and clothing.
The British sold very expensive clothes to the Indians. They would buy cotton from India at cheap prices and export it to Britain where it was woven to make clothing. These garments were returned to India to be sold at high prices. Gandhi's Khadi movement was aimed at boycotting foreign goods, including cotton and the promotion of Indian products, thus improving India's economy. Mahatma Gandhi began promoting spinning khadi for rural self-employment and self-sufficiency (instead of using industrially manufactured cloth in Britain) in the 1920s in India, thus making khadi an integral part and an icon of the Swadeshi movement. The struggle for freedom revolved around the use of khādī tissues and the dumping of clothing made by foreigners. When some people complained about the cost of khadi to Mahatma Gandhi, he began to use only dhoti.
Several state governments and the Government of India have been appealing to citizens to promote the use of Khadi.