Coming soon! Our tassled up shoe in Khadi. Do you guys know what Khadi is? Ok, let me give you a first a glimpse of our shoe then explain what Khadi is.
Gorgeous right? We thought so too. So now let me tell you the history behind Khadi textile and why I chose it for my designs.
Khadi or khaddar is handspun, hand-woven natural fiber cloth from India and is primarily mainly made out of cotton
The cloth is usually woven from cotton and may also include silk, or wool, which are all spun into yarn on a spinning wheel called a charkha.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation saw its potential as a tool to being self-reliant, independent and bringing villages back to life. In his words:
‘The spinning wheel represents to me the hope of the masses. The masses lost their freedom, such as it was, with the loss of the Charkha. The Charkha supplemented the agriculture of the villagers and gave it dignity.’
Gandhi knew that just the production and sale of this fabric won’t bring about change so he started the Swadeshi Movement synonymous with khadi. He promoted its simplicity as a social equalizer and made it the nation’s fabric.
These are his famous words on the fabric:
‘If we have the ‘khadi spirit’ in us, we would surround ourselves with simplicity in every walk of life. The ‘khadi spirit’ means illimitable patience. For those who know anything about the production of khadi know how patiently the spinners and the weavers have to toil at their trade, and even so must we have patience while we are spinning ‘the thread of Swaraj.The ‘khadi spirit’ means fellow-feeling with every human being on earth. It means a complete renunciation of everything that is likely to harm our fellow creatures, and if we but cultivate that spirit amongst the millions of our countrymen, what a land this India of ours would be! And the more I move about the country and the more I see the things for myself, the richer, the stronger is my faith growing in the capacity of the spinning wheel.’ - Mahatma Gandhi
There you go, your history lesson of the day. You can thank Jujuteh for this insight and bringing India’s fabric and it’s history straight to you via our Tassled Up shoe.
On a side note, my husband one day brings back this “new beer” for us to try, him- “look babe it’s called Gandhi” Me -“ugh no honey that’s a C it’s Candi”. Classic. If you’re reading this, sorry hubby for blowing your spot!
xoxo
G