Ahmedabad Textile Quiz: Mills, Markets and History

The Manchester of the East

Ahmedabad's first textile mill was set up by Ranchhodlal Chhotalal in 1861. Many more cotton mills followed, and by the early 1900s the city was known as the "Manchester of the East", after the English cotton city.

Mills and the freedom movement

In 1918, mill workers went on strike over wages. Mahatma Gandhi supported them and fasted, his first fast in a public dispute in India, and the dispute went to arbitration. In 1920 Anasuya Sarabhai, with Gandhi's guidance, founded the Textile Labour Association (Majoor Mahajan Sangh), one of India's oldest trade unions.

Ahmedabad today

• Denim: the city is home to several large denim mills, including Arvind, and is often called India's denim capital.
• Research: ATIRA, the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association, does textile research and testing.
• Museum: the Calico Museum of Textiles, set up in 1949 by Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, is in Shahibaug. Visits are by guided tour, so check the timings first.
• Markets: long-established wholesale cloth markets such as Maskati Market and New Cloth Market.

Surat and Ahmedabad compared

Ahmedabad's mill industry was built on cotton; Surat's modern trade is built on man-made fibres such as polyester and viscose. Many retailers buy from both. See the Ahmedabad textile market list and try the Surat textile market quiz.