International Yoga Day: Khadi collection that exudes comfort for practitioners

The world is set to celebrate with India, the eighth edition of International Day of Yoga (June 21), under the theme of of Yoga for Humanity, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This theme reaffirms how yoga has served humanity in alleviating sufferings during the phase of Covid-19, and brought people together through kindness and compassion during the post-Covid geopolitical crisis to foster a sense of unity across the world. But, it’s one thing to practise yoga, and another to pursue it in an attire that makes it more meaningful to follow this disciplined, holistic practice.

The essence of yoga is balance, and not just balance within the body or that between the mind and the body, but also balance in the human relationship with the world. Keeping in view the core ideology of yoga, the design team at Center of Excellence for Khadi (CoEK) has come up with a range of wellness wear named Svadha — to showcase the versatility of Khadi — on International Day of Yoga. In Atharva Veda, Svadha means ease, comfort or pleasure, which are truly the attributes of this collection. Sudha Dhingra, director, CoEK, says, “When we are meditating, our body is resting and rejuvenating. That is why the use of natural dyes and organic material is important especially while doing mediation because that’s when the body is absorbing. Keeping this in view, and since for yoga so far we have all been mostly using pyjamas, salwar or stretch wear, we decided to come up with this collection that will allow the body to easily practise yoga.”

CoEK was set up by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), with the objective to help Khadi Institutions (KIs) to effectively design, produce and market high quality differentiated khadi products in the domestic and global market. CoEK carries forward the sentiment articulated in the theme by drawing a strong parallel with the khadi spirit, which simply means “fellow-feeling with every human being on Earth”.

Sharing the high points of this wellness collection, Dhingra adds, “There’s inclusion of bias yoke on the shoulder, a box pleat in centre back of top wear, and low crotch wrap around bottom wear for ease in stretching and for extra comfort. While doing the research before coming up with this line, we spoke to people who have been practising yoga regularly, and incorporated their feedbacks that mentioned how these things were missing in the yoga wear that they have been using uptill now.”

This wellness clothing range emphasises the values of mindfulness and perseverance, and is aimed to attract all age groups from Gen Z to those young at heart. It’s created using handspun khadi in natural hues. The thought that the threads of khadi bind people globally is in the true sense of the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family).

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