India’s fashion and apparel retailers are taking their expansion plans to high streets as a shortage of Grade-A mall space reshapes the country’s retail real-estate market. Gross retail leasing inside shopping malls across India’s top eight commercial centres fell 38 per cent year-on-year to 0.71 million sq ft in the July-September quarter, according to real estate advisory Cushman & Wakefield. The decline, however, is less a reflection of weak consumer demand than of constrained premium supply. Total retail absorption across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Ahmedabad fell a modest 4.4 per cent to 2.22 million sq ft in Q3.

High streets moved in the opposite direction. Leasing across prominent open-air retail corridors jumped 33 per cent to 1.51 million sq ft, accounting for 68 per cent of total quarterly absorption, compared with just 32 per cent for malls. The shift is giving fashion, apparel and lifestyle brands an alternative route to store expansion as premium shopping-centre inventory becomes increasingly difficult to secure.

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High streets take lead

Grade-A malls in Tier-I cities are operating near peak occupancy, with average vacancy falling to 4.8 per cent after three consecutive quarters without fresh completions. For retailers planning aggressive store additions, this has translated into longer waits for premium ground-floor and anchor locations. Rather than defer expansion, brands are increasingly turning to established high-street micro-markets.

“India’s retail market continues to demonstrate steady underlying occupier interest, even as quality retail space remains constrained,” says Gautam Saraf, Executive Managing Director, Mumbai and New Business, Cushman & Wakefield. Domestic retailers accounted for 86.3 per cent of Q3 absorption, or 1.92 million sq ft, while international brands contributed 13.7 per cent. Fashion, apparel and lifestyle remained the dominant demand drivers, together with food and beverage, accounting for more than 57 per cent of transactions.

SUSTAINABILITY

Delhi-NCR leads

The city-level numbers underline the uneven availability of quality retail space. Delhi-NCR remained the largest market, with 0.55 million sq ft of absorption, while Hyderabad recorded the strongest growth among major markets.

Table: Retail space by cities

Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad together accounted for 45.2 per cent of quarterly absorption. Hyderabad’s 18.3 per cent year-on-year growth was supported by rapid take-up across Jubilee Hills and Gachibowli. Mumbai, in contrast, recorded a 40.8 per cent decline as limited availability constrained transactions. Prime corridors such as Linking Road and Fort are also witnessing sharp rental increases.

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Visibility wins

For fashion retailers, high streets offer something very valuable: speed. Standalone properties can enable brands to launch stores without waiting for new mall projects or navigating extensive shopping-centre fit-out requirements. They also offer direct street visibility, independent operating hours and easier access for consumers.

Costs are also changing the equation. High-street leases can have simpler commercial structures than malls, where retailers face common-area maintenance charges, central air-conditioning costs and revenue-sharing arrangements. Prime open-air locations have recorded average rental appreciation of 6.8 per cent year-on-year, prompting brands to secure properties through longer-term agreements before rents rise further.

Retailers are adapting store formats accordingly. Trent has expanded standalone Zudio and Westside formats, including multistorey corner properties positioned along high-footfall transit corridors. Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail and Reliance Retail are also using high streets for womenswear, menswear and footwear concepts in markets such as Indiranagar, Linking Road and South Extension.

EASITEX

Malls still matter

The high-street surge does not signal the decline of malls. Instead, retailers are moving towards a two-format strategy. Around 12.7 million sq ft of Grade-A mall inventory is expected to be delivered through 2028, led by Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai. But only 1.35 million sq ft is projected to be completed this year, keeping near-term supply tight.

This is pushing retailers to use each format for a different purpose: high streets for everyday visibility, accessibility and frequency, and malls for scale, experiential retail and broader consumer engagement. For brands, the practical approach is about having the right mix of high streets for visibility and everyday footfall, and malls for scale and a more complete consumer experiences, say analysts.

Milin Rohinesh, Head of Retail-India at Cushman & Wakefield, opines the definition of quality retail is also evolving towards curated, experience-led destinations. For apparel companies, however, the next challenge will be economics. As more retailers compete for limited high-street inventory, rising rents could begin to pressure store-level margins.

India’s retail expansion is therefore moving outdoors not because malls have lost relevance, but because the shortage of premium mall space is making the high street the fastest available route to growth.

Easitex-Textiles Sustainability

India’s second-hand apparel market is moving from the margins of fashion retail to a mainstream consumption channel, with a sharp rise in online searches signalling growing consumer intent around thrift, resale and circular fashion. Google search data shows queries for ‘thrifting’ reached an all-time high over the past 12 months. Searches for ‘how to thrift?’ grew 850 per cent, while ‘thrift store near me’ rose 600 per cent, pointing to a shift from passive curiosity to active purchase discovery.

The trend is no longer restricted to India’s largest fashion markets. Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata continue to account for significant search activity, but cities such as Kochi, Dehradun, Guwahati and Jaipur are emerging as new centres of interest.

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The increase in basic discovery searches is equally significant. Queries for ‘what is thrift store’ rose 1,000 per cent, while vernacular searches such as ‘thrift meaning in Hindi’ indicate that second-hand fashion is attracting first-time consumers beyond its traditional urban, digitally savvy audience.

Search becomes a retail signal

The increase is being reinforced by economics. According to Credence Research, India’s second-hand apparel market is projected to grow from $3 billion in 2023 to $9.11 billion by 2032, at 13.04 per cent CAGR. Globally, Boston Consulting Group estimates the second-hand fashion market is growing at two to three times the rate of first-hand fashion. Affordability and value remain major purchase drivers, but recommerce is also becoming a customer-acquisition route for fashion brands, particularly among younger consumers.

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Streetwear drives demand

Product-level search behaviour suggests that consumers are not simply looking for cheaper clothing. They are seeking distinctive products unavailable through conventional mass-market retail. Jackets lead thrift-related apparel searches, followed by casual tops, footwear and denim. Y2K-inspired streetwear including jorts, track pants and oversized baggy jeans is generating strong inventory velocity.

Premium vintage is also gaining traction. Searches and enquiries around vintage sports jerseys, heritage saris, retro graphic T-shirts and pre-owned leather accessories point to an emerging market for archive fashion. This changes the proposition for retailers. Pre-owned fashion is no longer positioned solely as discounted merchandise. Vintage and limited-run products offer scarcity, differentiation and personal styling opportunities that standardised fast-fashion assortments cannot easily replicate.

EASITEX

Sustainability meets value

The growth of recommerce is being driven by two parallel forces: consumer value consciousness and the fashion industry’s growing circularity agenda. Searches for ‘circular fashion’ jumped 2,500 per cent over the year, while sustainable fashion increased 120 per cent. The numbers suggest that sustainability is moving beyond corporate messaging and entering the consumer discovery funnel.

BCG research also indicates that around 80 per cent of second-hand fashion buyers are motivated by affordability and value. Recommerce can therefore appeal simultaneously to price-sensitive shoppers and consumers seeking more sustainable consumption.

For Gen Z, the proposition extends further. Secondary platforms can act as discovery channels for emerging labels, allowing shoppers to experiment with brands, styles and categories at lower entry prices. India’s market offers considerable headroom. With the domestic second-hand apparel market projected to triple by 2032, resale could increasingly become part of the mainstream fashion-retail architecture rather than an adjunct to it.

Hard to ignore

Technology tackles the supply gap

Demand, however, is only one side of the equation. India’s recommerce supply chain remains fragmented, with inventory spread across Instagram sellers, flea markets, independent thrift stores and informal sorting networks.

Scaling the category requires greater consistency in authentication, condition grading, sizing, cataloguing and reverse logistics. Technology is beginning to address these constraints through image recognition, visual search, automated grading, predictive sizing and digital authentication.

For organised retailers, this infrastructure could make formal buy-back, repair and resale programmes easier to integrate with existing stores and e-commerce platforms. Instead of building separate businesses, brands can potentially use their existing customer and retail networks to create closed-loop fashion ecosystems.

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Brands eye resale as acquisition

The emerging opportunity is reflected in the rise of specialised technology platforms. Founded in 2021, Relove offers circular-commerce infrastructure that enables fashion and designer brands to integrate peer-to-peer resale into their existing e-commerce storefronts. The platform has worked with domestic labels across organised apparel and premium fashion, with plans to expand its branded resale infrastructure into Southeast Asia following double-digit GMV growth.

For established retailers, the strategic attraction is increasingly clear. Resale can extend the life of products, create additional consumer touchpoints and potentially bring younger shoppers into a brand ecosystem.

India’s thrift boom therefore is more than a change in consumer taste. The sharp rise in search intent suggests the emergence of a new retail behaviour one where affordability, individuality and circularity converge. As technology standardises fragmented supply and organised retailers begin experimenting with resale, second-hand fashion could evolve from a niche social-commerce phenomenon into a meaningful component of India’s next retail cycle.

Easitex-Textiles Sustainability

India’s festive fashion market is moving beyond high-ticket, single-occasion purchases as consumers seek ethnicwear that can be styled for weddings, family gatherings, office celebrations and everyday social occasions. For retailers, the shift towards versatile silhouettes, mix-and-match separates and region-specific merchandise is changing product development, inventory planning and festive merchandising.

India’s ethnicwear market, valued at around $22.8 billion and projected to touch $32.7 billion by 2032, has traditionally depended on the festive and wedding seasons for a substantial share of annual sales. However, shoppers are weighing repeat wearability and cost per wear alongside design and occasion appeal.

Digital platforms, including Myntra, AJIO and Amazon Fashion, are responding with lighter festive collections, contemporary ethnic silhouettes and coordinated separates that work across multiple occasions. The shift gives retailers an opportunity to improve inventory productivity while reducing exposure to markdowns on unsold seasonal merchandise.

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The versatility play

Traditional festive merchandising centred on complete ensembles such as kurta-churidar-dupatta sets, heavily embroidered lehengas and ceremonial sherwanis. The emerging model gives greater prominence to versatile jackets, co-ord sets, lighter kurtas and separates that can be combined with existing wardrobes.

Table:

The commercial implications extend beyond design. Lighter fabrics, restrained embellishment and adaptable silhouettes can widen the occasions for which a garment is relevant, potentially improving sell-through beyond the festive peak.

Online festive fashion sales can rise three to five times above normal business levels, as per industry estimates cited in the market assessment. Capturing this demand depends on offering products that combine festive appeal with practical utility rather than relying exclusively on elaborate, high-value ensembles.

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Regional demand diverges

Digital commerce is also exposing retailers to sharper regional variations in festive buying. Ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi, Myntra recorded a 3.8-fold increase in demand for Maharashtrian Nauvari drapes and a 2.3-fold rise in Paithani saris, alongside a 1.6-fold increase in premium silks. Quick-commerce service M-Now reported a 50 per cent increase over baseline traffic in Mumbai for cultural accessories, including traditional Marathi naths and nosepins. These trends show how digital catalogues and localised inventory can serve specific cultural occasions rather than simply extending the reach of standardised national assortments.

Demand is also expanding beyond metros. Amazon Fashion recorded a fourfold increase in festive fashion orders in Chandigarh, Surat and Jaipur, with growth also reported in Kochi, Patna and Nagpur. Regional preferences remain important. Northern markets show demand for structured styles such as bandhgalas and Nehru jackets, while parts of western and southern India favour lighter garments suited to local climates and styling preferences.

For retailers, this makes regional assortment planning increasingly important. A national festive collection may provide scale, but localised product selection and inventory allocation can help reduce mismatches between supply and demand.

EASITEX

Brands rethink assortments

Established ethnicwear retailers and digital-first labels are adapting their offerings to capture consumers seeking more flexible festive wardrobes. Vedant Fashions, which operates the Manyavar and Mohey brands, has built its business around wedding and ceremonial wear. Its lighter Indo-Western offerings, including draped kurtas that can be paired with slim-fit trousers and casual footwear, provide options for office celebrations and festive social gatherings without abandoning its core wedding proposition.

Women’s ethnicwear brands Indya and Libas have similarly expanded their use of pre-stitched saris, coordinated sets and detachable capes. Such designs can simplify styling and offer greater flexibility than heavily structured occasionwear.

Market observations cited in the assessment indicate that sell-through rates for transitional festive collections have exceeded those of traditional heavy ethnicwear sets by nearly 18 per cent, while returns have declined because of fewer fit-related issues. These figures, however, require brand-level validation before being treated as industry-wide trends. The broader opportunity is to extend the selling life of festive products while giving consumers more ways to incorporate ethnicwear into their existing wardrobes.

Hard to ignore

Bigger baskets, faster delivery

Festive shopping is an exercise in building a complete look rather than buying a single garment. A kurta or sari can prompt additional purchases of jewellery, footwear, cosmetics and gifts, creating opportunities to raise average order values. Platforms are using recommendation engines and styling features, including Amazon’s Rufus and ‘Wear It With’ tools, to suggest complementary products and encourage cross-category purchases.

Quick-commerce services add another layer by catering to last-minute requirements, particularly accessories and other festive essentials. Faster fulfilment across major urban markets can help retailers capture purchases that might otherwise be lost to timing constraints.

The challenge is to make recommendations relevant and commercially useful. Poorly matched suggestions can add friction, while coordinated merchandising can help shoppers complete an outfit in fewer steps.

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Platforms compete on discovery

Myntra and AJIO are expanding their ethnicwear and occasionwear propositions as digital fashion consumption spreads across Tier-II, III markets. Their opportunity lies in combining broad assortments with regional discovery, personalised recommendations and fulfilment capabilities.

For brands, these platforms provide access to customers beyond established retail catchments. But broader reach also requires better demand forecasting and inventory placement, particularly when cultural preferences and festive calendars differ by region.

The next phase of festive retail will depend less on selling an outfit for one event and more on making each purchase relevant across several occasions. Retailers that combine regional assortment planning, versatile product design and effective cross-category merchandising could improve stock productivity while building repeat demand beyond the festive season.

Easitex-Textiles Sustainability