India has rarely been the first call for major brands despite boasting one of the world’s most comprehensive textile ecosystems, abundant cotton supplies, growing sustainability credentials and an expanding network of free trade agreements.
Now, industry leaders say the country has its best chance in years to move from perennial backup plan to preferred sourcing destination. But it must first break some bad habits and learn to sing its own praises.
“What we lack is collaboration among stakeholders and good collaborative storytelling,” said Parvinder Kadyan, chairman of the Global Alliance For Textiles Sustainability Council and CEO of Aadi Sustainability at the recent Denimsandjeans India show. “In China, everyone is fond of their excellence … In India, we speak about individual companies, not the overall country.”
Moving India out of the “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” category of global sourcing won’t be easy. Fragmented supply chains and limited collaboration among industry players are persistent issues. Stakeholders admit that India hasn’t convinced brands it can deliver the speed and strategic partnership they now demand. And it has struggled to tell its story through a unified, compelling brand.
Yet a slew of forces are working in the country’s favor and putting it in pole position, from trade uncertainty, geopolitical tension and supply chain diversification to new sustainability regulations reshaping global sourcing.
If it can capitalize on the moment, it could finally become the sourcing partner brands have long said they wanted.
“It’s a perfect window,” said Gaurav Sharma, president and business head of Bangalore-based Himatsingka Seide Ltd. “We have never been in a situation [like this] in the last two to three decades.”
The New Rules of Denim Sourcing
If India hopes to strengthen its hand, it must first understand how buyer expectations have evolved, particularly when it comes to its massive $5.4 billion denim market, according to Aditya Goyal, managing director and CEO of Anubha Industries.
That starts with recognizing that today’s denim buyers are looking for more than low-cost production, Goyal said. Brands now expect products combining performance, durability, sustainability and traceability without sacrificing the fabric’s essential character.
“You can’t pick and choose between performance and character, because denim without character is any other textile,” Goyal said.
The balancing act is especially important as Gen Z and Gen Alpha shoppers reshape the market. Young consumers are more conversant than older generations on concepts like resale, reuse and vintage fashion, and they grew up internalizing messaging about climate change and sustainability. For denim suppliers, that means circularity, performance and authenticity can’t be separate goals anymore.
Meanwhile, emerging European regulatory requirements are set to significantly boost demand for traceable and recycled textile products via rules such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and the Digital Product Passport, pushing brands to improve visibility throughout their supply chains.
Those forces mean vague environmental claims and greenwashing are dead, Goyal said.
“No one wants to be fooled with very, very generic statements,” he said. “That era is over.”
India is theoretically well positioned to reap the rewards of consumer trends and coming regulation, Kaydan said, pointing to the fact that India now recycles more than 97% of its post-industrial textile waste and has developed one of the world’s largest textile recycling ecosystems.
The country also benefits from established recycling infrastructure and growing government support for circularity initiatives, including India’s Tex-Eco initiative, which focuses on recycling, water conservation, waste management and workforce development. Indian companies are already implementing technologies, including DPPs, life-cycle assessments and end-to-end traceability systems.
But word isn’t getting out, and communicating these accomplishments effectively to global brands remains challenging.
“Physically, we are ready,” Kadyan said. “But the storytelling…”
A Country Without a Tag
Kadyan and other executives said one of India’s main hurdles is its lack of global branding. Individual Indian companies are often recognized for their capabilities, but the nation lacks a unified identity that clearly communicates its strengths to global buyers.
India’s major competitors have no such issues. Bangladesh is associated with cost competitiveness, China is known for manufacturing excellence and scale, while Turkey has a reputation for speed and proximity.
“What tag does India have?” Kadyan asked, arguing that the country’s achievements in recycling, circularity and sustainability have not been well communicated internationally. “We are not visible to the world.”
The lack of visibility could limit India’s ability to capture business even when market conditions are favorable to it, as they are now.
With brands pursuing a “China-plus-one” strategy, India is in the mix of every conversation, said Mohd Ghiase, founder of Octorite Technologies and a former manufacturing executive with companies including FFI and Brandix. Ghiase said global sourcing decisions are increasingly driven by risk mitigation as brands build multinational supply chains meant to head off geopolitical disruption, trade disputes and economic uncertainty.
Today, “every country is a backup option,” Ghiase said. “No one is a preferred option.”
India should be in prime position to clean up in the global marketplace given it has secured a bevy of new trade agreements since 2022, including with the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Europe, the UK and New Zealand and is in discussion with 38 additional trading partners on duty-free access, Sharma said.
But opportunity alone won’t guarantee long-term growth, he said, adding that India must prove it can consistently deliver on promises.
“All we need is to align ourselves, work on the framework, give the confidence to the brand and the customer that we will deliver,” Sharma said. “Then there is a long association, and there is a partnership, which ensures that once we break the law of inertia, we are able to keep things in momentum and grow.”
It might be easier said than done.
The Collaboration Challenge
One of the biggest obstacles to growth is fragmentation, Indian executives said, repeatedly describing an industry that is stubbornly siloed: Spinners, fabric manufacturers, garment producers and laundries operate independently rather than as coordinated partners, slowing decision-making and response times.
That’s a major disadvantage for India as speed becomes increasingly important and brands cut inventory levels. The trend toward smaller, more frequent orders is making traditional sourcing models built around large seasonal buys a thing of the past, underlining the need for responsive production strategies.
“If we can’t become fast, we will always stay the backup option,” Goyal said.
To compete, India needs to take a page from China’s book, Ghiase said. Whereas Chinese manufacturers work collectively to solve problems, share resources and fulfill orders, Indian companies tend to compete against one another instead of working together to secure business.
“You walk into a Chinese factory, they will never say no to you. They find a way to be able to manufacture in a price point, in economies of scale, no matter what you throw to them,” he said. “Will we do this? We will never go to our neighbor [or] any other manufacturer that is there. The fundamental is that we want the business, but we don’t know how to do the business because we refuse to collaborate.”
The issue extends to communication. Even buyers proactively looking to source from India can struggle to identify suitable suppliers or understand the country’s full capabilities, said Sharma, who was recently frustrated as he attempted to help a UK client track down motorbike denim.
“I don’t know who to find it with,” he said. “I, as an Indian, can’t find that kind of a product. So, imagine when they are looking to a country, which is now free trade, [and] we don’t know. How do you do business?”
India has every ingredient for success, from manufacturing expertise to sustainability infrastructure to growing market access through trade agreements, executives said. Yet whether those advantages translate into long-term growth depends not on what the country can produce but how effectively its industry works together to deliver it.
“We need to bring our country to a point at which I can trust you and you can trust me to keep the customer,” Ghiase said. “Why cannibalize each other? The world is enough. Let’s cannibalize the world.”
