Nueva York – The
Indian fashion industry has gone through tremendous change in 2019.
FashionUnited looks into where it has landed by the end of the year. Meet
the new India’s fashion: Homegrown, craft-oriented, greener, digital-first.
The Indian fashion industry is one of the largest in the world as it
provides clothing for more than 1.2 billion people. Governmental sources
estimate that today’s Indian textile industry is at 33 billion dollars,
with unstitched garments comprising 8 billion dollars. Indeed, textiles and
clothing account for 14 percent of total industrial production, according
to the Textile Association of India.
The Indian fashion industry has witnessed a shift of paradigm in
2019
As highlighted by the Asian edition of ‘Entrepreneur’ magazine, the
fashion industry in India is booming as there is a strong demand for
fashion-forward clothing. “Sold online, in mall stores and small boutiques,
the fashion industry is growing each day. The industry has unorganized
small businesses which are gradually becoming organized with more
established large fashion retail chains and online marketplaces,” points
out the publication. A noticeable trend strengthened over the last twelve
months is the growing number of entrepreneurs who are neither fashion
designers nor fashion graduates who are entering the market to explore
opportunities.
On a related note, ‘The Hindu’ highlights how the exhibition of nine
contemporary Indian clothing brands at the Qatar India 2019 Year of Culture
in Doha, has illustrated the paradigm shift in Indian fashion. The new
Indian fashion has a strong focus on craft and handwoven textiles, seamless
co-creation with the artisanal clusters of India, and most importantly, and
overall emphasis on slow fashion.
Meet the designers leading the change in the Indian fashion
industry
Namely, these are some of the designers leading the charge: Mia Morikawa
and Shani Himanshu of 11.11, Sohaya Misra of Chola, Gaurav Khanijo, Santanu
Das of Maku, Chinar Farooqui of Injiri, Shreya and Priyal Mewara of Ode to
Odd, Pallavi Dhyani of Three, and Urvashi Kaur.
The country’s industry’s take on conscious fashion differs slightly from
that of the rest of the world. — represent a certain design mindset that is
sweeping across India. While global fashion has accepted that there is an
urgent need to slow down, streamline production, reduce inventory and edit
collections, in India it’s all about homegrown, small-scale, mindful,
craft-oriented fashion businesses. This new wave of fashion mavericks not
only acknowledge the negative impact of their profession on the
environment, but are determined to address it at a design level, looking
into potential improvements for the entire supply chain; from sourcing and
packaging to the final product.
Noteworthy, the previous generation of Indian fashion designers have
paved the path to this new era. Market experts call out the likes of James
Ferreira with his zero-waste ethos, or designers such as Rajesh Pratap
Singh, Abraham & Thakore, Ritu Kumar, Rohit Bal, Tarun Tahiliani, Anamika
Khanna, and Sabyasachi who have strived to work with artisanal communities
of India in the past decade.
The Indian apparel market will be worth 59.3 billion dollars in
2022
According to data from McKinsey’s FashionScope, the Indian apparel
market will be worth 59.3 billion dollars in 2022, making it the sixth
largest in the world, comparable to the UK’s (65 billion dollars) and
Germany’s (63.1 billion dollars). To this point, the latest ‘State of
Fashion Report’ by ‘Business of Fashion’, in 2019, India has been propelled
by strong macroeconomic tailwinds, with its GDP is predicted to grow 8
percent a year between 2018 and 2022 and the country’s middle-class
forecast to expand by 1.4 percent a year over the same period, outpacing
China, Mexico, and Brazil. “As a result, India is set to evolve from an
increasingly important sourcing hub into one of the most attractive
consumer markets outside the Western world,” concludes the BoF.
Image: Maku Textiles by Santanu Das, official website
