The first person who bought khadi into recognisation is Mahatma Gandhi and he urged the people of India to wear khadi garments. Gandhiji thought that we have to made something ourself which shows the unity of India.Gandhi wrote. Swaraj (self-rule) without swadeshi (country made goods) is a lifeless corpse and if Swadeshi is the soul of Swaraj, khadi is the essence of swadeshi.

In fact, khadi (which means any cloth that is hand spun and hand woven) had a most religious role in marriages when brides in India were presented with a khada charkha in their wedding trousseau to encourage spinning of the yarn.Therefore khadi became not only a symbol of revolution and resistance but part of an Indian identity.Gandhi confessed though, When I first discovered the spinning wheel it was purely through intuition. It was not backed by knowledge so much so that I confused charkha with kargha (handloom).These two forms of fabrics have always confused people. While khadi is hand made, handloom yarn is processed at the mills.