Hoping to wean away GenZ from fast fashion, Co-Ek has launched khadi resort wear-think wrap skirts and summer dresses.
By Asmitaa Aggarwal
It is always invigorating to observe seismic changes in the way Khadi has been perceived and elevated— leaving its traditional starchiness, adopting a modern nomenclature. This year Co-Ek (Centre for Excellence for Khadi), powered by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), crafts dresses instead of saris. It was a concerted move, to serenade GenZ, maybe learning from Moscow Fashion Week, where Nargis Zaidi, head of apparel Co-Ek met khadi lovers, who told her “My grandmother was a Gandhian, I love its imperfections.”
The shapes of khadi are now global, jackets skirts, pants, layered magic, inner wear, relaxed fits, also in the process Co-Ek recycles and upcycled katrans, channels circularity while creating statement pieces. “When we sort out fabrics, we do it colour wise, indigos stitched together for example, to offer a discerning palette,” says Nargis.
Khadi is a versatile fabric, it may be Swadeshi, but it has international appeal, as she had gone ahead and crafted blazers with it. Since 2021 her efforts have been to start a new narrative, break mindsets and barriers, introduce new colourways (yellow and reds, or charcoals and reds). “We were trying to tell a story—paying homage to little things that often go unnoticed, but impact sustainability, that’s why you see tiny embroidered beetles on resort wear; our line of gamchas, we had the yardage increased while weaving to create wrap skirts,” she adds, hoping this will be an effective alternative to GenZ shopping at Zara and H & M.
For the FDCI khadi show, at LFW 2025 she took her experience working with FabIndia and Avaram, forward, by weaving it in Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab to down South, each region bringing along its uniqueness. “We have students from fashion colleges coming to do final projects on khadi which is heartening. A Japanese fashion lover from Tokyo wrote to me on how she was doing her thesis on khadi. Unfortunately, in India, we take it for granted, globally they love the natural textures,” she adds.
Hand spun, keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter, organic, a politically powerful fabric, no fabric has this much history!