E-commerce

How Urbanic avoided Shein’s fate and built a Rs 1,000 crore fast fashion empire

Pranav Balakrishnan

July 17, 2023 | 10 Min Read

In five short years, Urbanic has gone from entrant to undisputed leader of India’s fast fashion space. With revenues doubling year on year, its biggest threat may not be the fast fashion rivals springing up all around it but its Chinese ties.

In May, Chinese fast fashion e-commerce giant Shein confirmed it would be re-entering the Indian market through a partnership with Reliance Retail. The announcement came nearly three years after the Indian government banned Shein and 59 other Chinese apps—including ByteDance’s TikTok—following clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along the China-India border.

While a host of short video apps mushroomed almost overnight to try and fill the void left by TikTok exit, Shein’s heir was seemingly waiting in the wings. As India’s Gen-Z women scrambled for a new source for trendy, affordable fashion, they found their fix in Urbanic.

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