Emerging trends in India’s D2C fashion scene

“An offline store is the biggest billboard a business can have,” said Vedang Patel, co-founder, The Souled Store, a self-described one-stop shop for official Hollywood pop culture fashion and merchandise. Throwing light on the evolution of the D2C sector so far, including contemporary trends, Patel highlighted the ever-increasing importance of moving from a digital-only model to a hybrid model consisting of online and offline stores.

Addressing an audience of entrepreneurs, young and old, as well as seasoned investors at the India Internet Day event organized by TiE Delhi NCR on Friday, Patel recounted his reasons for entering the offline space: “The first impetus was customers asking where they could find a product they had seen by chance either on a screen or on the street; the second impetus resulted from our desire to build trust with consumers, which is quite low in online businesses .”

In recent times, the direct-to-consumer (D2C) industry has grown by leaps and bounds in India, particularly driven by greater internet penetration and the unprecedented growth in e-commerce brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The D2C fashion segment, perhaps the largest category in the broader industry, witnessed a year-on-year growth of 89.5 percent in FY22. However, brands in this space are growing increasingly aware of going the hybrid route, especially since the slowdown of the pandemic and related restrictions on movement in the public sphere.

Among other fashion-related trends emerging in the D2C sector is the fascination with all things ‘pop’. The massive popularity of American pop culture among the Indian audience has pleasantly surprised Patel: “We started the brand as a strong fan platform, but we noticed that our customers are mostly those who are looking for ‘cool’ and fun fashion options. They aren’t even real fans, per se!”

Moreover, while ‘fast fashion’ has received global condemnation in the past two years with allegations of human and environmental exploitation, Prashanth Aluru, CEO and co-founder, TMRW, believes there are still gaps in this space that can be capitalized on. . by innovative entrepreneurs. On the possibility of sustainable fashion becoming mainstream in the Indian D2C space, Aluru said, “There is certainly a massive opportunity due to the mass appeal of sustainable fashion globally, but for it to become successful among Indian consumers, businesses need to get the affordability factor right.”