Business

KVIC Signs Deal With Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail To Promote Khadi Fabric

The Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has signed an agreement with Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail to take the hand-woven khadi fabric closer to discerning consumers. KVIC Chairman V K Saxena said that the body will also sign an agreement with Arvind Mills shortly. “The benefit of such convergence is that they would buy khadi fabric from us and they would convert into various garments according to their expertise," he said.

As part of the deal, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail will launch shirts and jackets under its brand Peter England by the end of this year, while Arvind Mills will allow the Ahmedabad-based textiles major to roll out garments from the hand woven fabric. The development comes after textile and apparel major Raymond launched its branded Khadi label called ‘Khadi by Raymond’ under a partnership with KVIC to promote the fabric globally.

According to Saxena, the benefit from such an agreement is that they will buy KVIC khadi products and generate man hours, while khadi institutions would get a chance to increase income.

Meanwhile, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Business Head Ashish Dikshit said that khadi products would hit the market by the end of this year. The company plans to tap into a whole new sourcing base from fabric point of view and a whole new supply chain from the vendor’s point of view, he stated. If the khadi range gets a good feedback from customers, the group may consider extending the initiative to other brands as well, he stated.

Under the recently signed deal, Peter England has agreed for a guaranteed minimum procurement of khadi and khadi products for a period of five years with primary purchases of muslin cotton as well as silk. Incidentally, Peter England, which launched in 1997 as mid-price segment brand, has a distribution network with more than 650 exclusive brand outlets spread across 150 towns, besides a presence across more than 2000 multi brand outlets.