Apparel startups account for the largest share in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) segment as India’s fashion industry has the highest potential and is expected to grow to $43.2 billion by 2025
India’ ecommerce market, which is likely to reach a size of $100 billion by 2025, has grown exponentially in the last few years
D2C brands aim to capitalise on the growing appetite of Indian consumers for innovation and waning loyalty towards traditional players
Several factors including the Covid pandemic, higher internet penetration, growth of digital infrastructure and rise in the number of millennials, among others, have shored up the D2C brands.
“Home to more than 190 million digital shoppers, India has the world’s third-largest online shopping base in the world,” an Inc42 report said.
It is this burgeoning ecosystem that the new-age D2C brands aim to capitalise on, on the back of the growing appetite of Indian consumers for innovation and waning loyalty towards traditional players.
Some of the emerging D2C brands including Mamaearth, CaratLane and Nua took just a couple of years to reach Rs 100 crore revenue mark. This is a testament to the success of D2C brands in the country.
A few of the popular apparel brands include Bewakoof which sells a wide variety of clothes, stationery items, footwear and mobile accessories on its website.
The D2C brand also sells a host of merchandise clothes and accessories in partnership with Marvel, F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Star Wars, Disney, DC and Looney Tunes.
Beyoung is a D2C apparel startup that manufactures and sells fashion wear through its app, website and ecommerce platforms.
BlissClub sells a host of women’s activewear including bottom wear, sports bras, tops, tees and co-ords, among others.
Bombay Shirt Company sells bespoke apparel for men and women and presently leads four brands–Bombay Shirt Company, cityof, Pause and Korra and also has a presence in Dubai and New York.
Founded in 2013 by Suman Choudhary and husband-wife duo Neha Kant and Pankaj Vermani, Clovia is a women’s lingerie brand that offers over 3,500 intimate wear styles.
Founded in 2018, DaMENSCH is a men’s clothing brand that sells a range of clothing styles such as odour-cancelling men’s underwear, polo-t-shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, joggers, tank tops, and chino shorts, among others.
FableStreet is a women-focused clothing brand and offers readymade as well as bespoke clothes for female working professionals and claims to use a three-body measurement algorithm for creating customised apparel.
In 2019, it raised $2.95 Mn in its Series A funding round. Prior to that, it secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2017.
FabAlley is a brand of High Street Essentials (HSE). It sells a wide range of women’s western apparel via online marketplaces, physical retail stores, multi-brand outlets (MBOs), and its own website.
Freakins is a women-centred denim wear brand. However, the startup forayed into the men’s category in February 2023 to emerge as a full-fledged Gen-Z denim wear brand.
The D2C brand’s product portfolio currently spans more than 35 categories and 1,500 styles.
Snitch is a men’s fast fashion brand that sells products such as shirts, t-shirts, jeans, trousers, among others. The company sells its offerings through its website and app, as well as other major online marketplaces.
The Pant Project was founded by siblings Dhruv and Udit Toshniwal and offers customised bottom wear for both men and women, with free alterations and monogramming services provided to customers.
Founded in 2013, The Souled Store is a casual wear brand and its product offerings include top wear, bottom wear, innerwear and activewear.
Founded in 2017, XYXX is a D2C menswear brand that sells a range of products across categories such as underwear, loungewear and athleisure and offers skin-friendly fabrics suitable for India’s humid climate.
Zivame, founded in 2011 by Richa Kar and Kapil Karekar, sells lingerie, activewear, shapewear and sleepwear via its website and offline retail stores.
