24 December 2025, Mumbai

The Miss Diva 2025 Grand Finale transformed Mumbai into a high-octane stage for sustainable fashion on December 21, 2025. Presented by LIVA, the event stood out as a pivotal retail and apparel showcase, emphasizing a shift toward 100 per cent natural-origin fabrics in high-fashion couture.

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Held on December 21, 2025 amidst a glittering audience of industry veterans and Bollywood celebrities, the event witnessed the crowing of Avni Gupta as Miss Diva Supranational 2025, while Avani Kakekochhi Bhat was awareded with the title of Miss Diva Cosmo 2025.

Both queens are set to carry the torch of Indian pageantry to international platforms in 2026, representing an industry that increasingly blends traditional aesthetics with eco-conscious innovation.

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Bohemian innovation and retail resonance

The runway served as a real-time display of the ‘Bohemian Muse’ collection, a major highlight for the retail sector. Finalists in the Fashion Designer category showcased intricate ensembles crafted from LIVA fabrics- derived from eucalyptus and bamboo - demonstrating the material's superior drape and breathability.

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Designer Samant Chauhan, who mentored the Top eight designers, noted, the fluid nature of cellulosic fibers is redefining summer-wear trends for 2026.

Named Miss Diva Fashion Designer 2025, Aishwarya V wowed the jury by proving that biodegradable textiles can compete with synthetic silks in durability and visual luxury.

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The rise of the digital fashion economy

Reflecting the broader shift in Indian retail toward influencer-driven commerce, the finale also spotlighted the Miss Diva Content Creator 2025 winner, Monica D’Souza.

Dressed in Nandita Mahtani’s creations, the segment underscored how digital storytelling now dictates apparel demand in India’s Tier-I and Tier-II cities.

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With Indian textile and apparel exports projected to reach a Vision 2030 target of $100 billion, platforms like Miss Diva are no longer just beauty contests but strategic launchpads for the ‘Farm to Fiber to Foreign’ vision.

Liva is the flagship retail brand of the Aditya Birla Group company-Birla Cellulose, a specialist in eco-friendly Man-Made Cellulosic Fibers (MMCF). The brand offers products including Livaeco, Liva Reviva (recycled fiber), and Birla Excel, targeting high-end apparel, ethnic wear, and home textiles. It operates in over 250 cities across India.

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23 December 2025, Mumbai

Having officially inaugurated its 90,000-sq-ft flagship in the historic Kala Ghoda district in November 2025, Galeries Lafayette

Mumbai has launched a series of winter story telling sessions designed to capture this shifting consumer sentiment. By integrating Bollywood-led storytelling with multisensorial zones, these events aim to address a critical market insight: nearly 76 per cent of modern luxury shoppers now prioritize memorable experiences over the simple acquisition of goods.

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Cultural storytelling as a driver for high-value conversion

The ‘Unbox Magique’ and ‘What Men Want’ activations, featuring Arjun Rampal and Rahul Khanna, serve as more than celebrity endorsements; they are functional templates for ‘experiential storytelling.’

In an era where 52 per cent of high-income shoppers prefer in-store purchases for fashion, these curated walkthroughs bridge the gap between digital discovery and tactile luxury.

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By framing the purchase of luxury goods - from leather accessories to bespoke fragrances - as a masterclass in craftsmanship, the department store is successfully converting aspirational footfall into loyal clientele.

This approach directly mirrors a broader sector shift where brands are moving away from product-centric models toward emotional engagement to sustain growth in a competitive $12.1 billion domestic luxury goods market.

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On the store’s Beauty Floor, the ‘Bon Weekend’ immersion demonstrates how luxury retailers are utilizing ‘fragrance rituals’ and live sets to increase dwell time and brand recall.

This strategy aligns with data suggesting that multisensorial experiences - incorporating soundscapes and olfactory marketing - have a significant positive impact on purchase intention in the Indian apparel and cosmetic sectors.

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By offering personalized makeovers and tech-enabled fragrance discovery, Galeries Lafayette is tapping into the 10 per cent annual growth seen in the Indian luxury personal care segment.

These events act as a testing ground for Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) to refine its ‘phygital’ model, blending Parisian heritage with the data-driven demands of a globally connected Indian consumer.

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Galeries Lafayette is a world-renowned French department store group, brought to India through an exclusive partnership with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL).

The Mumbai flagship, housed across five levels in two restored heritage buildings (Turner Morrison and Voltas House), showcases over 250 global luxury brands, with roughly 70 per cent of these labels making their debut in the Indian market.

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20 December 2025, Mumbai

Decathlon India is recalibrating its strategy after a challenging fiscal year that saw its revenue growth decelerate to 3.1 per cent, reaching Rs 4,133 crore. Despite this slowdown, the French sporting giant is doubling down on India as a manufacturing powerhouse to offset a reported net loss of Rs 65 crore. The news angle shifts from pure retail expansion to a ‘Make in India’ dominance, with plans to scale global sourcing from Indian hubs to $3 billion by 2030.

Apparel and technical textiles take center stage

The company is aggressively shifting its product mix toward high-potential categories, specifically technical textiles, footwear, and fitness apparel. While overall demand in the Indian sports apparel market remains robust - projected to grow significantly through 2032-Decathlon faces intensifying competition from Reliance Retail’s new sportswear ventures and international entrants like Frasers Group. To maintain its edge, Decathlon aims to increase its local sourcing for domestic sales from 70 per cent to 90 per cent by 2030, ensuring price competitiveness in the price-sensitive Indian athleisure market.

Despite the recent fiscal slip, Decathlon remains committed to a €100 million (Rs 933 crore) investment over the next five years to modernize existing stores and expand its footprint to 190 outlets across 90 cities. A key challenge remains the sharp 74 per cent rise in depreciation costs, reflecting heavy capital expenditure on new logistics hubs and digital infrastructure. Industry observers note, India is becoming a cornerstone of Decathlon’s global ambition, with the focus now being on integrating Indian production more deeply into the worldwide supply chain to cushion against domestic retail volatility.

A French sports goods designer and retailer, Decathlon entered India in 1999 as a manufacturing partner before launching retail operations in 2009. The brand operates over 130 stores in India, offering specialized apparel and gear across 60 sports, with a historical focus on making sports accessible to the masses through value-driven pricing.

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22 December 2025, Mumbai

India’s fashion economy is far more structured than it appears. Beneath the energy of flea markets, the efficiency of mall chains, and the glamour of couture ateliers lies a well-defined hierarchy: a layered fashion pyramid that reflects how 1.4 billion people express identity, aspiration, culture, and class.

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This pyramid, spanning value shoppers to haute couture patronsis the backbone of India’s $110-billion apparel machine.

Drawing from global frameworks but reshaped for India’s socio-economic realities, the ‘Indian Fashion Apparel Segmentation Pyramid’ shows how the market moves, who spends on what, and why brands must understand this hierarchy to win.

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Value hunting, mass aspiration and India’s price-first economy

India’s fashion story begins with its most populous and powerful layer, the ‘Doesn’t Want to Play’ segment. These are consumers driven overwhelmingly by price, but increasingly influenced by global trends and social media.

Street marketsfrom Sarojini Nagar to Hill Roadcontinue to dominate the unbranded universe, offering the fastest trend turnaround in the country. Simultaneously, digital-first platforms such as Meesho and Ajio Value have expanded the reach of budget fashion deep into Tier-II, III India.

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A recent RedSeer Consulting study quantifies the momentum in this space. It projects that the value fashion segment will grow at 10-12 per cent CAGR over the next five years, with affordable smartphones and hyperlocal digital commerce as catalysts.

The rise of resellers, mostly womenon platforms like Meesho, has transformed low-price fashion into a micro-entrepreneurship engine, where affordability meets aspiration.

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This base layer anchors the pyramid not just in volume, but in cultural influence. Trends often percolate upward from here, proving that value fashion does not mean trend-deficient fashion; it is, in fact, the starting point of India’s trend diffusion chain.

The business of everyday style

As we move upward, the pyramid enters its most commercially dynamic zone: the ‘Accessible Core’ and the ‘Premium Core’. This is where consumers shift from purely price-driven choices to considerations around quality, brand identity, and self-expression.

India’s organized retail ecosystem mall chains, department stores, and large-format retailers derives much of its power from these two segments.

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The structure and growth trajectory of this middle layer becomes clear when examining the following table.

Table: Organized retail growth for apparel segment

The table reveals a powerful insight, while mass fashion still dominates market share at 35 per cent, the fastest growth is occurring at the top of the pyramid. The Premium Core’s 15 per cent CAGR signals the rise of affluent urban India seeking better quality, design finesse, and cultural relevance.

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The Accessible Core’s 12per cent CAGR, meanwhile, reflects the maturing aspirations of India’s urban youth and middle-class families.

Interestingly, even though the Super premium and Ultra High End tiers collectively represent just 17per cent of the organized market today, their double-digit growth rates clearly indicate an upward shift in India’s consumption pyramid, a trend driven by rising incomes, social media-led aspiration, and the normalization of designer wear in wedding culture.

The Accessible Core: Where fast fashion meets Indian urbanism

Brands like Zara and H&M have become cultural landmarks for Indian millennials and Gen Z. Their rapid collection drops and global silhouettes have redefined mall culture and set benchmarks for aspirational dressing. On the domestic front, Lifestyle and Pantaloons anchor this segment with curated mixes of private labels and affordable contemporary wear, becoming the wardrobe backbone for India’s middle class.

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The Premium Core: Contemporary Indian design comes of age

Higher up the middle sits the Premium Core, where aesthetics meets heritage. Fabindia, Biba Premium, Global Desi and others have created an Indian contemporary vocabulary, clean lines, artisanal details, modern silhouettesthat appeals to working professionals, upwardly mobile families, and culturally rooted shoppers.The Premium Core’s rapid growth is a reflection of this evolving Indian modern aesthetic. Fabindia’s model, rooted in craft revival and slow fashion, exemplifies how sustainability can be commercially viable in India when paired with brand heritage and lifestyle positioning.

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The peak of the pyramid

At the summit lie the Superpremium and Ultra High End segments, territory defined by craftsmanship, exclusivity, and social capital.This is a consumer base that does not merely buy clothing; they commission it. Designer-wear is not simply apparel, but a cultural asset and a statement of personal identity.

Designer fashion, India’s global statement

Indian designers like Gaurav Gupta, Manish Malhotra, TarunTahiliani, and Sabyasachi have transformed the perception of Indian fashion globally. Theirwork be it couture lehengasor sculptural gowns, or intricately hand-embroidered ensembleshave found space on runways from Paris to New York.

Sabyasachi, in particular, has transcended the category to become a global luxury house with a distinctive aesthetic rooted in Indian maximalism.

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The business of luxury

The following table, drawn from Bain & Company’s India appendix on the global luxury market, illustrates the fast-paced growth of luxury in the country.

Table: India’s luxury apparel and accessories market (2022–27)

Source: Bain & Company Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study, India Appendix.

The numbers underscore one message: India’s luxury market is expanding at nearly triple the pace of the global average.

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Luxury apparel leads with an 18 per cent CAGR, reflecting the cultural centrality of wedding and occasion wear.

Accessories, now a key entry point for new luxury consumers, are close behind at 17per cent. Even luxury footwear historically niches hows strong double-digit momentum. This rapid acceleration signals not just rising wealth, but also a shift in mindset. For today’s affluent Indian consumer, luxury is not occasional indulgence; it is lifestyle identity.

How the pyramid is changing

India’s fashion pyramid is no longer rigid. Several transformative forces are reshaping it, enabling consumers to move up segments and allowing trends to move down faster than ever. Digital commerce has dissolved hierarchies: a small-town shopper today can buy Zara online, while urban consumers can access budget fashion at the click of a button. Social media influencers have become cultural intermediaries, pushing trends across segments with unprecedented speed.

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Sustainability has moved from niche discourse to actionable expectation. Within the Premium Core and Superpremium segments, conscious fashion, organic fabrics, ethical sourcing, low-impact dyes are rapidly becoming a priority.

Fusion fashionIndia’s signature hybrid of tradition and modernity has become the dominant aesthetic across categories. Whether it is Indo-western festive wear or contemporary handloom resort fashion, this hybridization is shaping demand even in value fashion. Customization, once the preserve of couture, is gaining traction across segments. Brands are increasingly investing in fit personalization, digital tailoring, and bespoke design services—reflecting India’s deep-rooted preference for personalization.

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Why the fashion pyramid matters

Understanding India’s fashion pyramid is essential for anyone aiming to build or scale a brand in the country. The pyramid is not just an economic modelit is a cultural map that reveals how Indians express identity, aspiration, and status.

For international brands, it highlights the importance of correctly positioning entry price points. For domestic brands, it reveals gaps in design evolution, retail experience, and brand storytelling.

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For luxury labels, it affirms that India is no longer an emerging market but a fast-maturing luxury powerhouse.

The Indian fashion pyramid is a story of movement consumers moving upward, brands expanding their tiers, and the country itself evolving into a globally relevant fashion economy. Those who decode this layered structure will shape the next chapter of India’s style and business transformation.

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20 December 2025, Mumbai

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) has strengthened its dominance in the competitive Delhi NCR market with the grand opening of its latest Pantaloons store on Pusa Road, Karol Bagh. Announced on December 19, 2025, this launch serves as a strategic cornerstone of the brand’s ‘Metro-First’ expansion phase.

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Revamping retail identity to capture ‘masstige’ demand

More than just a new location; the Pusa Road outlet serves as a prototype for Pantaloons’ revamped retail identity. Under a broader strategy to distance itself from the overcrowded value-retail space, the brand has introduced a ‘high-street boutique’ feel, integrating AI-driven visual merchandising and a fortnight-long product refresh cycle.

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This shift is already yielding financial dividends; despite a cautious consumer sentiment across the industry, Pantaloons reported a 6 per cent revenue growth to Rs 1,142 crore and a 7 per cent like-to-like (LTL) gain in the most recent quarter.

The company states, it is committed to making shopping a playful, joyful, and engaging journey. The new format aims for store-level profitability within its first year of operation, it ads.

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As part of ABFRL’s ambitious plan to triple its revenue by 2030, the Pusa Road launch reflects a disciplined capital allocation toward high-yield urban clusters.

While the brand recently exited 40 underperforming stores in smaller markets, it is doubling down on metro hubs with 20–25 new large-format openings annually. This expansion is supported by the rapid scale-up of OWND!, Pantaloons’ Gen Z-focused value format, which grew at 43 per cent Y-o-Y.

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A primary division of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL), Pantaloons stands as one of India’s most recognized ‘masstige ‘ fashion retailers, operating a diverse network of over 412 stores across 185 cities.

----------------------------------Originally founded by Kishore Biyani in 1987 as Menz Wear and later acquired by the Aditya Birla Group in 2012, the brand has evolved into a multi-category powerhouse serving menswear, statement womenswear, and kids’ fashion.

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22 December 2025, Mumbai

Under Armour is fast-tracking its India journey with a bold blueprint to triple its retail revenue to Rs 1,500 crore over the next five years.

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Driven by its exclusive licensee, Underdog Athletics, the American performance giant is doubling down on a ‘full-price’ model, intentionally shunning the aggressive discounting cycles common in the sports-apparel sector. By the end of FY25, the brand reached a retail value revenue of approximately Rs 500 crore, maintaining a steady 25 per cent CAGR over the last three years.

This calibrated expansion reflects a broader shift toward ‘premiumization’ in India’s sportswear market, which is projected to grow at nearly 19 per cent annually through 2034.

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Strategic scaling and high-productivity retail

The brand’s expansion is anchored in high-productivity physical stores, with a target of adding 8 to 10 new ‘Brand Houses’ annually.

Under Armour’s current network of 50 stores across 30 cities is witnessing exceptional sell-through rates; for instance, a 1,740 sq. ft. flagship in Gurugram recently generated Rs 1.5 crore in a single month. While technical athletic gear remains the core, the brand is successfully testing the ‘premium streetwear’ waters, with select tech-led lifestyle drops selling out in weeks rather than months.

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Tushar Goculdas, Managing Director, Underdog Athletics, emphasizes, the goal is not mass-market volume but becoming India’s "most-loved premium athletic performance brand.

To support this Rs 1,500 crore ambition, Under Armour is diversifying its category mix and localized presence. Apparel currently dominates sales at over 50 per cent, while footwear contributes a significant 35–37 per cent.

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Notably, women’s wear is emerging as a high-growth pillar, expected to reach 25 per cent of total sales as the segment matures.

Founded by Tushar Goculdas in 2021, Underdog Athletics is the exclusive distributor and licensee for Under Armour in India, managing all retail, marketing, and distribution. The brand focuses on ‘advanced athletic gear,’ including HeatGear, ColdGear, and HOVR footwear technology, catering to professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts.

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23 December 2025, Mumbai

Suditi Industries has finalized a capital infusion of Rs 58.87 crore for a comprehensive overhaul of the brand Gini & Jony through a mix of equity shares and warrants.

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The Mumbai-based textile veteran is leveraging this liquidity to transition from a traditional manufacturing entity into a specialized retail powerhouse, specifically targeting the Rs 300,000 crore Indian children's apparel market.

This move comes at a critical juncture as the domestic kidswear segment experiences a CAGR of 15 per cent, driven by a shift toward organized retail and premium branding.

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Capital allocation for omnichannel dominance and scalable infrastructure

Through these funds, Suditi aims to move Gini & Jony beyond the traditional brick-and-mortar sales to a sophisticated omnichannel strategy.

Suditi’s management plans to deploy these funds to deepen existing product categories and build a digital-first infrastructure capable of supporting rapid retail expansion.

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The strategy focuses on modernizing the supply chain and utilizing data analytics to sharpen execution, a move designed to compress the learning cycles typically associated with scaling consumer brands.

This infrastructure push is intended to stabilize the backend as the company prepares to transition Gini & Jony from a standalone apparel brand into an ‘everything kids’ lifestyle platform.

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The funding round attracted a notable roster of strategic investors and seasoned operators, including high-profile figures from the financial and consumer sectors such as Venkat Ramaswamy of Edelweiss and Nitin Agarwal, formerly of GlobalBees.

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This investment follows a period of significant financial recovery for Suditi Industries, which recently reported an 89 per cent increase in turnover and a substantial jump in net profit.

Since its founding in 1991 as a textile manufacturer, the company has maintained a low-debt profile, which provided the fiscal headroom necessary for the 2024 acquisition of Gini & Jony.

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22 December 2025, Mumbai

Louis Philippe has officially expanded its Gulf footprint with a debut 1,586 sq ft flagship store at the City Centre in Bahrain.

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Following a 9.4 per cent surge in Indian textile exports this quarter, the brand is capitalizing on a ‘reverse migration’ of luxury standards, where Indian craftsmanship is meeting high-disposable-income markets.

Launched in partnership with Kalyan Silks, the Bahrain store serves as a hub for the brand’s new global retail identity, featuring minimalist teal-toned aesthetics designed to capture the attention of the Kingdom’s fashion-forward professional class.

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Aggressive Roadmap for 2026

The Bahrain debut acts as a springboard for an ambitious Middle Eastern roadmap. Jacob John, President, Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands, confirms plans to inaugurate five additional exclusive stores across the GCC by late 2026.

This move comes at a time when the GCC textile market is projected to reach $16.3 billion, driven by a growing appetite for ‘quiet luxury’ and premium workwear.

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While the domestic Indian market faces pricing pressures in the lower-tier segments, Louis Philippe’s overseas strategy focuses on high-margin structured separates and ceremonial attire, effectively diversifying the brand's risk against regional economic fluctuations.

One of India’s leading premier menswear brand, Louis Philippe is synonymous with the ‘Upper Crest’ since its launch in 1989.

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The brand specializes in high-count cotton shirts, precision-tailored suits, and smart-casual separates.

Operating under Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands, the brand maintains over 450 stores in India and an expanding presence in the UAE, Qatar, Mauritius, and Nepal.

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19 December 2025, Mumbai

Marking a sophisticated pivot for the Stellaro Brands Label, Rangita opened its latest store at L&T Next Galleria Mall in Moosarambagh, Hyderabad.

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Unlike traditional expansions, this launch is the result of a ‘digital-to-physical’ blueprint, leveraging pincode-level demand data harvested from high-performing online corridors on Amazon and Ajio.

By embedding itself within Hyderabad’s transit-oriented development (TOD) hubs, Rangita is strategically capturing the high-frequency footfall of urban commuters—a demographic that has fueled the brand’s 6.5X festive sales surge and sustained a 50 per cent CAGR.

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The Southern value paradigm

The brand’s aggressive focus on the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh ‘regional citadel’ is rooted in a clear economic reality: per-capita spending on value-driven ethnic wear in South India consistently outpaces Northern benchmarks. With the Indian women’s ethnic wear market projected to hit $22.56 billion by 2030, Rangita is utilizing its Rs 8 crore investment to secure store-level EBITDA profitability through lean, data-backed inventory.

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The brand isn’t just opening doors; they are deploying localized wardrobes based on what women in specific Hyderabad clusters are already searching for online, says Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO, Stellaro Brands.

This move reflects a macro-trend where D2C ‘digital natives’ are rescuing physical retail through omnichannel integration. By blending AI-driven personalization with a tactile ‘touch-and-feel’ environment, Rangita is addressing the 35 per cent–50 per cent return rates that plague online-only apparel players.

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Prioritizing micro-market fit over sheer store count- this hybrid model is becoming the definitive survival strategy for the urban middle-class demographic, where cultural roots meet contemporary retail expectations.

A contemporary ethnic wear label, Rangita specializes in trend-led kurtas, salwar suits, and fusion dresses designed for the modern Indian woman.The brand is predominantly active in South India (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), targeting the urban ‘Bharat’ demographic through both digital marketplaces and physical EBOs.

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