Tier 2 cities experience fashion surge

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 27, 2017

More and more designer brands are launching in Tier 2 cities and the cities themselves are also producing a crop of new designers pushing smaller cities into India’s fashion market.

From as far back as 2012 Tier 2 cities have experienced fashion retail growth both in terms of brands opening brick and mortar stores in the smaller cities and with the rise of large e-commerce sites such as Amazon and Flipkart. Large e-commerce platforms started delivering goods that were previously harder to come by outside of metropolitan hubs and so smaller cities and towns were able to access fashion that was previously out of reach.

One example is the innerwear and now casual wear brand Macho who, according to its director, aims to double sales in the next two or three years in part through expanding into Tier 2 cities in the south and east, already having a strong presence in the north and west. Moreover, Amazon continues to gain more customers from both Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities with increased delivery options.

Along with brands from Tier 1 cities that are expanding into Tier 2 cities, the cities themselves are producing fashion labels. For example, Nagpur, Pune, Coimbatore, and Vizag are all putting themselves on the fashion map. Last Sunday, the JD institute of Fashion Technology hosted its Annual design Awards Show featuring designers from its many centres in cities such as Noida, Kanpur, and Gurgaon.

One designer who showcased her work at the event, Somyajula Swarna from Vizag, said that although Tier 2 cities are now producing strong designers, they also have more problems to face. She said, “Right from sourcing fabric to procuring the smallest of embellishments for detailing purposes were a big task in a smaller city like Vizag that has limited access to fashion materials”. However, despite these difficulties, designers are continuing to emerge. Events like the JD Institute’s awards show are giving visibility to designers from smaller cities and recognising that they too have an important place in the Indian fashion industry and its growth.