KVIC takes big steps to widen base of khadi garment consumers

New Delhi: Aiming to make a fashion statement through khadi garments, the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has signed an agreement with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail and will ink another deal with Arvind Mills, which will help take hand-woven fabric closer to discerning consumers.

As part of the drive, KVIC today signed an agreement with the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, which would launch shirts and jackets under its brand Peter England by the end of this year.

While its deal with Arvind Mills will allow the Ahmedabad-based textiles major to roll out garments from the hand woven fabric.

"We are going to sign an agreement with Arvind Mills within next two weeks," said KVIC Chairman V K Saxena.

He added: "Benefit of such convergence is that they would buy khadi fabric from us and they would convert into various garments according to their expertise."

Yesterday, textile and apparel major Raymond had launched its branded Khadi label -- Khadi by Raymond -- under a partnership with KVIC and will promote the fabric globally.

"The benefit from such agreement is that they would buy our khadi products and generate man hours. Some khadi institutions which do not have proper work, they would get a chance to increase income," Saxena added.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Business Head Ashish Dikshit said that Khadi products would hit in the market by the end of this year.

"We are tapping into a whole new sourcing base from fabric point of view and a whole new supply chain from vendors point of view," Dikshit added.

According to Dikshit, if the Khadi range gets a good feed from the customers, the group may consider to extend to other brands as well.

"We will take it other brands over a period of time but that's not immediately. Initially, it would be with Peter England Stores," he said adding "we will try everywhere. We will see how it responds."

Under this convergence, Peter England has agreed for a guaranteed minimum procurement of Khadi and Khadi products for a period of 5 years with primary purchases of muslin cotton and silk.

Peter England, launched in 1997 as mid-price segment brand has a distribution network with over 650 exclusive brand outlets spread across 150 towns. It has presence across over 2000 multi brand outlets.