City youths welcome khadi chic

LUCKNOW: The Khadi Board has hired professional designers from the 1999 batch of NIFT Delhi to design clothes for its recently-launched ‘youth corner’ at khadi emporium, Shahnajaf Road. Garima Singh, master of design and Anurup Ranjan, also a NIFT Delhi pass out, have been roped in to design youth-centric clothes for the showroom.

From ladies wear to men’s wear, all attires at the youth corner are passing through Garima Singh’s fine precision and design test before making way to the khadi emporium. Hand-painted kurtas, western apparel for women, sadris for men, designer shirts of fine khadi silk fabric, ladies’ khadi jackets and more trendy attires are available as part of this collection.

The youth corner, which was inaugurated on November 28 this year by Kalraj Mishra, union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, is proving to be a crowd puller.

“We’ve got overwhelming response from youngsters. Designer khadi products are much in demand now-a-days among young people. We are hopeful to give tough competition to companies selling branded garments,” said Brij Bhushan Pandey, in-charge of the khadi emporium and the India general secretary of Sri Gandhi Ashram, which operates under khadi and village industries commission.

“Indian youth now want Khadi, which has become a style statement among the fashion-conscious gen-next of the country,” said Garima Singh, adding, “Youngsters now realise that one can be fashionable even while wearing khadi.” She also talked about khadi adding to the patriotic fervour of the youth other than making them feel chic and contemporary.

Fashion industry is among the fastest growing industries in the country.

Trend of online purchasing of clothes has also picked up in recent years. At present, the Indian e-commerce market is pegged at over $2.5 billion dollar. This figure is expected to shoot up to $20 billion in the next five years and fashion is expected to dominate this market.