In an interview with BW Businessworld, Rahul Mehta shared deep insights into the trends observed in the apparel space in 2024 along with other subjects
As the year 2024 approaches its conclusion, the Indian apparel industry, despite encountering its fair share of challenges and hurdles, has remained steadfast in its contributions to India’s overall growth trajectory. Throughout the year, the industry has been actively working on expanding and diversifying its portfolios, particularly in the areas of export diversification and organised retail. This period has seen a notable surge in the growth of organised players within the fashion sector, which has played a significant role in driving the industry’s expansion.
With the industry projected to witness continued consolidation, the Chief Mentor of the Clothing Manufacturer’s Association of India (CMAI), Rahul Mehta has expressed his belief that the sportswear and athleisure wear are expected to continue registering high growth rates (over 20 per cent) in the coming year. In an interview with BW Businessworld, Mehta shared deep insights into the trends observed in the apparel space in 2024 along with other subjects ranging from sustainable fashion, challenges faced by the industry as well as the expectations from the coming year.
Continued Growth Of Organised Retail
Shedding light on the key trends observed in 2024 in the Indian apparel industry, the CMAI’s Chief Mentor highlighted that year saw a great number of organised players in the fashion segment. Mehta added that social commerce, livestream shopping and influencers are reshaping retail, while direct-to-commerce (D2C) models dominate personalised fashion experiences.
“Year 2024 continued to witness high growth of organised players in the fashion segment. Sales of Trent, ABFRL, Page Industries and Arvind fashions, which are the leading fashion players in India, increased by 48 per cent, 13 per cent, 6 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively in the period of January to September 2024 compared to same period last year,” stated Mehta.
He further stated that success of Zudio has led to emergence of similar formats to meet the growing demand for affordable fashion such as Reliance’s Yousta, Shoppers Stop’s InTune, Aditya Birla’s Style Up and Kiabi.
Rising Costs & Threat From Imports
As far as the key hurdles that the apparel industry faces today regarding supply chain disruption and rising costs, Mehta highlighted that following the Covid-19 pandemic, raw material prices have sharply increased and overall inflation remains high, impacting profit margins.
Mehta highlighted, “Free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries like Bangladesh and SAFTA allow duty-free imports, which pose a challenge to domestic manufacturers as cheap Chinese fabric enters Indian markets through these countries. Increase in employment opportunities in rural India along with benefits under schemes like MNREGA, free ration under PM-GKAY and financial support under schemes like Ladli Behna Yojna has created shortage of manpower in garment manufacturing clusters across the country.”
Towards Sustainable Fashion
As the Indian consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable fashion, the manufacturers are being encouraged to adopt sustainable practices such as eco-friendly materials, ethical production, and waste reduction. Mehta highlighted that CMAI has introduced an initiative of the garment industry by bringing together 14 of India’s top brands and retailers to form the SU.RE initiative – SU.RE standing for Sustainable Resolution.
He stated, “Under this initiative, signatories of SU.RE have voluntarily agreed to make a significant portion of their Raw Materials, Processes and final Products more sustainable, by incorporating the best practices available internationally as well as developed indigenously.”
As per the Chief Mentor of the CMAI, the ultimate objective of the SU.RE movement is to gradually initiate the concept of sustainability right down to the smallest micro, small and medium entrepreneur (MSME) manufacturer, with CMAI holding training programs, seminars, workshops and roadshows to spread the message, the need and the benefits of sustainability and circularity in our Industry.
Manufacturers Leveraging Innovations
With the increasing demand for faster production cycles and cost-effective manufacturing, the Indian manufacturers leveraging innovations to improve production efficiency and reduce lead times. Mehta added that in last few years, there have been several innovative tools and technologies developed which can automate and/or improve efficiencies of processes such as order planning, designing, material handling and cutting, packing, quality monitoring, etc.
“These digital tools and artificial intelligence-driven solutions are being offered by machinery manufacturers and startups. However, their penetration is limited to larger players in India, while several medium and smaller players are evaluating them but at overall level the awareness about their use and overall impact is low.”
Business Expectations From 2025
Highlighting that in the coming year, the Indian apparel industry is expected to see continued consolidation, with a growing share of the market shifting towards organised, branded segments, Mehta stated that sportswear and athleisure wear are expected to continue registering high growth rates (over 20 per cent), driven by increasing consumer demand for comfort and performance.
“Increasing presence of international brands coupled with the sourcing requirements from India is creating a demand for larger and complaint setups in the country. In few instances, some of the international vendors are also expected to set up manufacturing in India,” highlighted Mehta.
With the Indian apparel industry playing a vital role in driving India’s economic growth by directly employs over 12 million people and almost double indirectly, the sector is particularly impactful in rural and economically weaker areas, providing critical employment opportunities to marginalised communities, especially women. The new year brings with it a bouquet of opportunities, but faces challenges as well.
