Paridhaanam, on a mission to popularise Khadi

Visakhapatnam: In a step to draw the attention of the millennials and encourage them to indulge in earthy khadi fabrics, Khadi Design Council of India (KDCI) brings out 'Paridhaanam,' an e-commerce portal.

The online platform aims at enhancing the livelihood of Khadi weavers and accord equal importance to design intervention to make Khadi the sought-after fabric among the younger generation.

Currently, the online platform offers khadi masks and a part of the women's collection, including kurtis. "The online store intends to bring in 300 Khadi weavers and designers onto a platform and make them work on designs to suit the requirements of the youth. Earlier, the multi-vendor online portal was an arm of Miss India Khadi Foundation that focussed on hosting fashion shows to promote the use of khadi. Now, Paridhaanam forms a part of KDCI," says Aishwarya Ganguri, joint secretary of KDCI, Andhra Pradesh.

From just a section of people who invest in khadi, Aishwarya says that the fabric is now preferred among the working class at large. "The idea of re-launching the e-platform is to take khadi to the next level with a target on school and college goers," she tells The Hans India.

While the fabrics are directly procured from khadi weavers, the designers customise them to suit the emerging trends.

Headquartered at New Delhi, the e-commerce site plans to add more categories to its inventory in the coming months, including kids, men's and accessories sections.