Gondal and Adesar, Gujarat | Himanshu Shani and 11.11: Pioneering India's artisanal fashion

Zohran Mamdani, candidate for mayor, New York City

Gondal and Adesar, Gujarat

PERHAPS ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S love for Indian fashion comes from his mother, the acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, known to flaunt textile-first designer labels such as 11.11 and Raw Mango.

“Oh, but his shopping skills are nothing like his mother’s,” says Himanshu Shani, the designer and founder of one of India’s finest fashion labels, 11.11, known to work with rural artisans and create fine artisanal contemporary wear. “Mira will buy many things within minutes, she knows exactly what she likes and is quick at making up her mind. Zohran will take his time. He will try on an item multiple times before putting his money down.” One could say it is the joy of helming a small niche label, but Shani is friends with many of his clients like Nair and Mamdani.

Another customer and friend is the billionaire co-founder of Zerodha, Nikhil Kamath, part of the Forbes ‘India’s 100 Richest’ list of 2024. Kamath also has an independent podcast and has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and actor Ranbir Kapoor—two men who rarely speak to the press. He often wears clothes from 11.11 on his podcast. Rumour has it that a beautiful white tangaliya shirt he wore for his interview with the prime minister led to a Padma Shri for a tangaliya weaver this year. Kamath has also expressed interest in investing in 11.11.

Shani says that Mamdani, who got married recently, has worn an indigo jacket from 11.11 several times in public already. Especially during March and April, while canvassing for the state assembly election in New York.

“Kala cotton is a fibre that is intrinsic to Kutch. It is a short-staple yarn, which means it is a little coarser, but it is fully organic. The only water used  to grow it is natural rainwater. It requires no irrigation, and is fully pesticide free,” Shani says. His label, 11.11—in which American designer Mia Morikawa is a partner—is known for making handspun, handwoven denim and other contemporary wear from kala cotton of Kutch, Gujarat. Shani shows me around Gujarat, where kala cotton is farmed and woven. The dyeing for Mamdani’s jacket was done at the 11.11 atelier in Delhi, where Shani is developing modern ways to make natural and long-lasting indigo, a plant-based blue dye also indigenous to India. The plant and the colour got their name from the country.

Our first stop is Gondal, a small town in Rajkot district, formerly a princely state but still full of beautiful monuments and finds mention in Abul Fazal’s book Ain-i-Akbari.

The fabric for Mamdani’s jacket was sourced from Udyog Bharti, a khadi emporium in the heart of Gondal founded in 1957 by the visionary Hargovindbhai Patel to employ and empower weavers. “You will find the finest khadi in India, and possibly the world, here,” says Shani. The Indian government’s Khadi and Village Industries Commission mandates that only handspun and handwoven fabric can be called ‘khadi’ and each khadi manufacturer needs a certificate from it.

We are here to meet Kavin Patel, the grandson of Hargovindbhai. “My grandfather had refined the charkha. It is not a metal device but with 8-10 spindles. The yield and the earnings increase. However, it is fully mechanical and free of electric dependence,” Kavin tells me. Udyog Bharti now employs 120 weavers and creates 2.5 lakh metres of handspun handwoven fabric. Shani says it is the largest producer in the country. Handspun and handwoven denim is also fully biodegradable, he says.

We visit Jagdishbhai at his home in Hamapur, a small village 70km from Gondal.  He is a generational weaver, and is currently on his loom weaving indigo-dyed denim. He is building a pucca extension to his house. His two daughters are married, and one son goes to a nursing college.

Hamapur once had more than 50 weavers, but now has only around six or eight. Most of the younger generation has gone to the diamond polishing factories.

Denim is tougher to weave than cotton; I try my hand at it on Jagdishbhai’s 50-year-old loom. Each weft takes two or three beats, whereas silk or cotton takes just one beat. Kavin informs me the weavers here make Rs100 per metre and weave six to eight metres a day. They also get a 20 per cent annual bonus, and the government gives them 22 per cent of their earnings via direct benefit transfers every quarter. There is an additional Rs8 per metre given by the government, but that is not fully implemented yet.

Hamapur comes under the Gir National Park’s area and sometimes one can spot an Asiatic lion in the village. The weavers here think Shani is a tailor and makes all the clothes by himself.

The next day, Shani takes me to Adesar in Kutch, five hours by road from Gondal. We visit a 330-strong farmers’ collective, Adesar Vistar Khet Utpadan Co Ltd, and even a kala cotton farm. The producer group’s head Devshi Parmar tells me that kala cotton has few takers and barely any orders. They prefer to grow castor as there is demand for castor oil from the US, Europe and Australia.

We carry back cotton buds and twigs as keepsakes.