British Cloth Boycott Tim Lee Daniel Kim Jay Kim Jason Kim

Before Imperialism: India Indians used to buy and make clothing manufactured in their own country. The cloth was called Khadi, and it was a homemade Indian cloth.

Britain Takes Over India’s Clothing Market As the British imperialized India, India’s cotton was exported to the British. After the British made clothing using Indian cotton, they exported it back to India. This is how India got dependent on British cloth.

Monopoly Since the British dominated the cloth industry, India had no choice but to buy British cloth. Indians didn’t get to make decisions very much. (Where else would they get their cloth?)

One Solution: British Cloth Boycott This was part of the “Civil Disobedience.” Mahatma Gandhi started a fight against the British, through boycotting British clothing. Supporters of Gandhi began to wear homemade clothing.

How? Where else would you get your clothes, when you had no where to buy them? –You make your OWN. –Remember, India did make their own cloth before getting imperialized.

Gandhi suggested that boycotters should spin their own cotton to make clothes, for at least an hour a day.

What he did: Banned Western clothing By 1921 Gandhi simplified his robe/dress to totally white. Simple. Promoted "Swardeshi" which is making home grown products.

The Gandhi supporters started burning British clothing. This was not very favored by Gandhi since he was a non- violent person. Even in the congress or nationalist meetings, Gandhi spun clothes, and the sound of spinning could be heard in the meeting. Until his death, he spun 200 yards of cotton each day.

Effects: This weakened the economy of Britain since India was Britain’s one of the biggest market. There were many causes for India’s independence, but the boycotting was one of the causes.