The centre of gravity in global apparel consumption is shifting steadily away from mature Western and East Asian markets towards faster-growing emerging economies. The US remains the world’s largest clothing market, with nominal apparel spending rising at a 3.7 per cent CAGR between 2010 and 2025. But the more significant change is taking place immediately behind it, where China and India have emerged as the strongest growth engines.

Consumption expenditure data from World Data Lab and fashion think tank FashionSIGHTS shows a sharp reshuffling of the world’s leading apparel markets over the 15-year period. While mature economies have faced demographic ageing, market saturation and currency pressures, emerging consumer markets have expanded their share of global discretionary spending.

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Table: Global consumption expenditure rankings 2010 vs 2025

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India and China change the ranking

India delivered one of the most significant advances, moving from eighth place in 2010 to third in 2025, supported by a 5.2 per cent nominal dollar CAGR. China moved from third to second with an 8.9 per cent CAGR, placing it firmly behind the US. The contrast with mature markets is pronounced. Japan dropped from second to sixth, with apparel spending declining at a 2 per cent CAGR. Italy moved from fifth to seventh, while France slipped from ninth to 11th. Spain also fell out of the top 15.

The change reflects more than differences in retail maturity. Ageing populations, saturated replacement demand and exchange-rate movements have constrained the dollar value of consumption in several developed markets, while rising incomes and expanding consumer populations have supported apparel demand across emerging economies.

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Consumers power growth

Behind the rankings lies a broader demographic transformation. World Data Lab defines the global consumer class as people spending more than $12 a day in 2017 purchasing-power-parity terms. This population is growing rapidly in emerging economies even as mature markets contend with ageing populations and high household expenditure on housing and services.

China accounted for over half of Asia-Pacific's consumer-class growth between 2000 and 2025, adding nearly one billion consumers. Over the next decade, India is projected to account for more than half of all net new entrants to the global consumer class. "For four decades, brand valuation and capital investment chased mature metropolitan wealth. Today, the strategic mandate is identifying where incremental discretionary cash flow is being unlocked," says Achim Berg, Founder, FashionSIGHTS and former senior partner leading global apparel and luxury practice advisory.

The implications extend beyond market rankings. The threshold for entering the world's top 15 apparel markets has also gone up. Indonesia was at the 15th position in 2010 with annual clothing expenditure of about $22 billion. By 2025, the comparable threshold had risen to around $30 billion, with Argentina entering the ranking at that level. Türkiye climbed four places to 10th with a 4.1 per cent CAGR.

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Retail growth moving beyond megacities

The redistribution of spending is also forcing a rethink of retail expansion. Earlier international strategies often concentrated investment in gateway cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai and Istanbul. The next phase of growth is more dispersed.

More than 90 per cent of newly formed consumer-class households in South and Southeast Asia are located outside top metros, reveals the demographic data. This is pushing retailers towards smaller-city networks, regional fulfilment infrastructure and more localized merchandise strategies.

India's Trent offers a good example. Its Zudio and Westside formats have combined private-label merchandise, rapid design-to-shelf cycles and an aggressive store rollout across smaller cities. The model has allowed the retailer to target emerging middle-income consumers with lower-priced fashion while reducing dependence on imported branded merchandise.

The broader lesson is that consumer growth cannot be captured through metro flagships alone. Distribution density, price and inventory responsiveness determine access to the next wave of demand.

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Localization comes with new risks

The opportunity, however, comes with greater operating complexity. Emerging apparel markets have fragmented distribution systems, diverse body and fit requirements and highly localized buying calendars shaped by festivals such as Diwali, Ramzan and Lunar New Year.

Centralized design and inventory models can therefore create higher markdown exposure when products fail to match local demand. Retailers seeking sustainable growth will need localized design capabilities, regional supplier networks and inventory buffers closer to consumption centres.

Currency is another pressure point. Strong domestic-currency sales growth can translate into weaker dollar or euro revenues when emerging-market currencies depreciate, making currency management and local cost structures increasingly important.

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Shifting focus from production to demand

The shift is ultimately broader than a change in retail rankings. Emerging economies are moving from being viewed primarily as low-cost manufacturing bases to becoming critical sources of global apparel demand. That transition is likely to reshape where fashion companies deploy stores, supply chains, technology and working capital. Retailers that previously optimized networks around mature metropolitan markets will increasingly have to build for dispersed consumer growth.

World Data Lab's economic and demographic modelling, combined with FashionSIGHTS' apparel-sector analysis, offers a framework for tracking this shift across more than 200 markets. For global fashion companies, the critical question is no longer simply where apparel is manufactured, but where the next generation of apparel spending is being created.

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For decades, Indian craftsmanship powered Western luxury from behind the scenes. Hand embroidery, beadwork, textiles and artisanal techniques produced in Indian workshops frequently entered Parisian couture houses and Manhattan ateliers without the Indian origin being visible to consumers.

That equation is changing. The latest New York Fashion Week (NYFW) showcased a growing cohort of Indian and South Asian designers presenting their own brands directly to international buyers, luxury consumers and retail scouts. The shift marks a move from being an invisible supplier of craftsmanship to capturing the brand equity and retail value attached to that craftsmanship.

From supplier to brand

The change was visible across NYFW, with South Asian bridal label Nazranaa presenting its collections, including architectural velvet looks worn by Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar, while Prashant Goyal’s Heritage India Fashions put Indian heritage techniques into a contemporary luxury context.

The significance goes beyond runway visibility. Designers are increasingly translating regional textile traditions, artisanal embroidery, Vedic geometries and ceremonial techniques into luxury separates, occasion wear and commercially viable collections rather than positioning Indian design simply as ethnic fashion. The result is a more direct proposition for global consumers: Indian craftsmanship, but sold under an Indian brand name and at international luxury price points.

Sabyasachi changes the equation

The most visible expression of this transition came from couturier Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who returned to the official CFDA NYFW calendar after two decades with ‘Bengal Byzantine Broadway’. The collection also marked a multi-year partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Through the museum’s licensing programme, Sabyasachi drew on five millennia of art history, incorporating references to antiquities and Byzantine heritage into handcrafted high jewellery produced in India using Jaipur gemstones and indigenous goldsmithing traditions.

The commercial importance of the collaboration lies in the positioning. Rather than adapting Indian aesthetics to fit an established Western luxury vocabulary, the collection placed Bengal, Byzantine influences and Broadway within the same cultural conversation. That approach potentially changes how Indian luxury is marketed internationally: not as an interpretation of Western heritage, but as a source of heritage in its own right.

Diaspora creates demand

The expansion is also supported by the purchasing power of the Indian diaspora in North America. Weddings, fine jewellery and occasion wear have created a substantial premium-consumption ecosystem, with affluent customers increasingly able to purchase directly from Indian-origin luxury houses rather than through middle-tier distributors.

International fashion weeks therefore serve a commercial function beyond brand awareness. A runway presentation can become a customer-acquisition channel for high-value bespoke orders and overseas flagship sales. Luxury ensembles displayed in New York can command prices ranging from about $4,000 to more than $15,000, depending on craftsmanship, customisation and category. As Radhika Mehra, a retail merchandising consultant specialising in cross-border luxury apparel explains the runway is no longer an artistic indulgence; it is a direct channel for building international brand equity and securing custom high-margin orders.

Retail follows the runway

Brand visibility is being converted into physical retail presence. Sabyasachi’s 16,000-sq. ft. New York flagship in the West Village is a good example of an Indian luxury house establishing a permanent presence in a major global fashion market. Nazranaa has built an extensive showroom presence in New Jersey, giving it a physical base in the important East Coast bridal market.

Other Indian and South Asian labels are using trunk shows, department-store relationships and selective wholesale placements to test international demand before committing to permanent stores.

This reflects an evolution from exporting garments. The objective is to establish a complete retail ecosystem covering brand experience, customer relationships, bespoke services and repeat purchases.

Capital enables scale

Institutional capital is reinforcing the transition. Indian conglomerates such as Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL), which have interests in prominent designer labels including Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra and Tarun Tahiliani, can give the financial and operational infrastructure required for international expansion.

For luxury houses, that backing can support overseas legal structures, inventory, logistics, flagship stores, experiential retail and category extensions without forcing designers to compromise their positioning for short-term volume. The opportunity extends beyond apparel. High jewellery, accessories, fragrances and home products can create additional revenue streams while reducing dependence on seasonal bridal and occasion-wear demand.

Craftsmanship is the highlight

India's artisanal Radhika Mehra, a retail merchandising consultant specialising in cross-border luxury apparel remains the industry's strongest asset. With over 2,000 documented craft clusters and extensive networks of master weavers and karigars, the country possesses capabilities that are difficult to replicate at industrial scale. That becomes relevant as global luxury consumers place greater emphasis on provenance, craftsmanship and cultural authenticity.

However, international expansion also brings constraints. Brands must manage higher logistics costs, Western sizing requirements, international fulfilment and the complexity of producing bespoke garments in India for customers overseas.

More importantly, occasion wear alone cannot provide the replenishment cycle required for a global luxury business. Ready-to-wear, accessories and lifestyle categories will need to develop alongside couture and bridal collections.

The significance of India's New York moment ultimately lies in value capture. Indian workshops have long supplied some of the world's most prestigious fashion houses with specialised craftsmanship. The emerging model allows Indian designers to retain more of the value chain from design authorship and storytelling to branding, retail and direct consumer relationships.

The transition is therefore not simply about greater visibility at fashion week. It signals an attempt by Indian luxury houses to move from being the craftsmanship behind global luxury to becoming the global luxury proposition themselves.

India’s new age apparel brands have shown that they can build revenue rapidly. The harder question now is whether they can convert that scale into sustainable cash flows. Bengaluru-headquartered Snitch offers a clear example of this transition. The men’s fashion brand closed FY26 with operating revenue of around Rs 900 crore, up about 81 per cent from Rs 498-505 crore in FY25 and nearly four times its Rs 243 crore revenue in FY24.

The company has simultaneously increased its storr footprint to over 115 exclusive brand outlets across Tier-I, II markets. But beneath the growth is a much thinner profit profile: an estimated FY26 EBITDA margin of just 2-3 per cent. That translates into roughly Rs 18-27 crore of operating profit on Rs 900 crore of revenue.

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Scale becomes expensive

Snitch’s numbers capture a wider shift in Indian fashion retail. The first generation of D2C brands could scale through digital advertising, centralized warehousing and online distribution without carrying a large physical infrastructure. That model is becoming harder to sustain. Digital marketing can absorb 18-22 per cent of revenue, while apparel e-commerce continues to face return-to-origin and customer-return rates of around 25-35 per cent. Reverse logistics, discounting and customer acquisition can quickly consume gross-margin gains. The response has been a decisive move into stores. At Snitch, offline now accounts for about 40 per cent of gross billings, compared with just 10 per cent in FY24.

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Table: Snitch annual revenue outlook 2024-26

Physical retail lowers dependence on digital customer acquisition and gives brands local visibility. But it also introduces rent, fit-out, staffing and inventory commitments. For a business operating at 2-3 per cent EBITDA, even a modest shortfall in store productivity or an inventory miscalculation can absorb a substantial portion of operating cash flow.

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Stores change the business

The shift from pure D2C to an omnichannel model is therefore not simply a distribution decision. It fundamentally changes the economics of the business. Online operations carry significant marketing and reverse-logistics costs. Stores eliminate much of that burden but replace it with occupancy and staffing expenses. The result is potentially stronger contribution economics, but only when store productivity and inventory turns remain high.

The numbers explain why physical expansion remains attractive. They also explain why execution becomes more complex. A store network multiplies the number of locations at which inventory has to be positioned, replenished and eventually cleared. In fast fashion, where designs can turn obsolete within weeks, poor allocation can rapidly translate into markdowns.

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Berrylush tests the playbook

Snitch’s acquisition of women’s fast-fashion label Berrylush adds another layer to that challenge. Rather than spending years building women’s wear design, sourcing and sizing capabilities organically, Snitch has acquired an existing platform founded by Anusha Chandrashekar and Alok Paul.

Berrylush reported standalone operating revenue of Rs 44.23 crore in FY25, down from Rs 49.54 crore in FY24, while recording a net loss of Rs 1.57 crore. For Snitch, the strategic logic lies less in the acquired revenue and more in the infrastructure: design capabilities, vendor relationships, women’s wear patterns and an existing customer base. The opportunity is to use Snitch’s growing store network and procurement scale to boost Berrylush. But women’s wear also brings greater SKU complexity, faster fashion cycles and potentially higher returns.

A collection that fails to convert quickly can require deeper markdowns, putting pressure on gross margins. Managing that complexity across 115-plus stores will require increasingly sophisticated replenishment and inventory systems.

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The IPO will test cash conversion

The biggest challenge now shifts from customer acquisition to capital efficiency. Retail advisor Arvind Singhal of Technopak has highlighted cash conversion as a key issue for rapidly expanding fashion retailers, noting that fast fashion operating on low margins requires inventory turns of roughly six to eight times annually.

That puts inventory velocity at the centre of Snitch’s next phase. The company has set a FY27 revenue target of Rs 1,400 crore as it prepares for an initial public offering. Reaching that number would require another substantial increase in scale while simultaneously integrating Berrylush and continuing store expansion.

For India's apparel challengers, the distinction between growth and durable growth is becoming very important. Large organised retailers such as Trent’s Zudio and Reliance Retail can spread sourcing, procurement and infrastructure costs across much larger volumes. Younger brands have to create those efficiencies while they are still building scale.

Snitch’s Rs 900 crore milestone therefore marks more than a revenue achievement. The next test is whether the business can move from rapid top-line expansion to operating leverage, faster inventory turns and stronger free-cash-flow conversion. The outcome will help determine whether India’s new-age apparel brands can graduate from high-growth challengers into durable retail businesses.

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