Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
You can think of Khadi as DIY culture taken to a revolutionary extreme. When you're hardcore into DIY, you'll spend hours scouring message boards for the best way to reupholster a chair, knit a scarf, or make your own avocado shampoo. But Khadi is way more focused, and its impact is hugely political.
The idea behind Khadi is to make your own clothes. From start to finish. Without stopping and deciding that you'd just rather hit up H&M.
But why? Why is sewing your own duds so important to Gandhi?
Because independence is the idea behind Khadi. The word "Khadi" technically just means "homespun cloth," but it takes on a broader meaning when considered as the movement Gandhi starts. He wants Indians to develop economic self-reliance so that it's easier to win independence from the British. The goal, he says, is "to be able to clothe ourselves entirely in cloth manufactured by our own hands" (5.39.2). In other words, economic self-sufficiency is a way of wresting power from the British and putting it in Indian hands.
We think that's pretty kick-butt.