Calico Mills, formally known as The Calico Mills Limited and historically as The Calico Mills of Ahmedabad, was an Indian textile company based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. For much of the twentieth century it was among the most prominent composite textile mills in India, associated with the Sarabhai family and recognised for its role in industrial design, technical innovation, and corporate patronage of the arts and sciences.
| Name | The Calico Mills Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Textiles |
| Headquarters | Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India |
| Country | India |
| Associated family | Sarabhai |
| Status | Closed |
Ahmedabad emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as one of India's leading centres for cotton textile manufacturing, often described as the "Manchester of the East". Calico Mills was established within this milieu and became one of the city's flagship composite mills, undertaking spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing and finishing of cotton fabrics under one roof.
The mill came to be closely identified with the Sarabhai family, an industrialist family of Ahmedabad whose members played prominent roles in Indian business, science, and public life. Members of the family associated with the broader Calico/Sarabhai enterprises included Ambalal Sarabhai, the physicist Vikram Sarabhai, the dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, and the textile scholar Gira Sarabhai.
Through the first half of the twentieth century, Calico Mills expanded its product range from grey cloth into printed and finished fabrics, and its branded textiles were widely distributed across India. The company invested in research and in modern production techniques, and the wider Sarabhai group developed allied interests in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and engineering.
In 1949, the Sarabhai family founded the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad, drawing on the resources of the mill. The museum, set up by Gautam Sarabhai and Gira Sarabhai, grew into one of the most important collections of Indian textiles in the world and remains its principal cultural legacy.
Like many older composite mills in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Calico Mills faced sustained pressure during the later decades of the twentieth century from competition with the powerloom and decentralised sectors, rising input costs, ageing plant, and changes in industrial regulation. The mill ceased operations and the company was eventually wound up, mirroring the broader decline of Ahmedabad's traditional mill industry.
Calico Mills is significant for several reasons: