Independent Fashion Research: Mapping India's Fast Fashion Shift

Rithika's independent research into India's fast fashion sector began as a consumer observation. She noticed a gap between the fashion products and brands available in the Indian market and what she was seeing in global or niche markets, and that gap prompted a question: why did certain categories or labels not exist in India, and was that changing?

That initial curiosity led her to start researching the sector independently, outside of her professional work. She launched a Substack publication and an Instagram page dedicated to tracking Indian fashion trends, sustainability dynamics, and the economics of the sector.

Through her research, she developed a view on a trend that was not immediately visible to her as a consumer: major Indian conglomerates were actively investing in fast fashion labels targeting younger Indian consumers. This was a calculated capital allocation decision by some of India's largest business groups, one that was not yet fully visible to the average consumer because the targeting was generational rather than broad-based.

Her research process combined consumer observation, media tracking, and analysis of corporate investment patterns, a methodology she developed independently and applied consistently across the sector.