India’s vibrant apparel retail sector is undergoing a profound transformation, propelled by the escalating demand for immediate gratification among consumers. As the year 2026 dawns, the battle for market share is increasingly being waged on the battlefield of speed, with "quick fashion" emerging as a pivotal differentiator. This paradigm shift, characterized by the promise of fashion deliveries within hours or even minutes, is not merely a logistical innovation; it represents a strategic lever to address persistent industry challenges, most notably the stubbornly high rates of product returns that plague online apparel sales. What began as experimental pilots in a few metropolitan hubs in 2025 has rapidly evolved into a mainstream strategic imperative for major marketplaces, established retailers, and agile digital-first brands alike, setting the stage for an execution-intensive competitive arena.
The accelerated adoption of quick fashion models mirrors the rapid expansion seen in quick commerce for groceries and daily essentials, indicating a fundamental shift in consumer expectations. Large e-commerce platforms like Myntra have significantly scaled their ultra-fast delivery services. Myntra’s M-Now, offering 30-minute deliveries, has expanded across major urban centres including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune. This service, a year into its broader rollout, now accounts for approximately 10% of total orders in its operational zones and boasts a customer penetration exceeding 20%, attracting over 35 million unique visitors. Similarly, Reliance Retail, a formidable force in India’s retail landscape, has launched Ajio Rush, promising fashion deliveries in under four hours in key cities, signaling the strategic importance placed on speed by industry behemoths. Beyond these giants, ethnic wear brand Libas has forged alliances with quick commerce platforms like Zepto for 10-12 minute deliveries of select items and has also initiated its own rapid-delivery channel during peak festive seasons. Even traditional retailers like Vishal Mega Mart have embraced this model, leveraging their extensive physical footprint of over 650 stores across 400+ cities to facilitate rapid, store-led deliveries. This multi-faceted industry embrace underscores a collective recognition that speed is transitioning from a premium feature to a core consumer expectation.
At the heart of this operational agility lies a sophisticated network of "dark stores" – micro-fulfilment centres strategically positioned within urban areas. Myntra’s M-Now, for instance, operates through more than 80 such dark stores, covering over 940 pincodes. These facilities are not merely storage units but highly efficient distribution hubs, powered by advanced trend forecasting algorithms, real-time inventory visibility systems, and dynamic order routing mechanisms. This technological backbone enables retailers to anticipate demand spikes, especially during festive periods and sale events, and ensures that the right products are available at the right micro-market locations. Maneesh Kumar Dubey, Vice President of Category Management at Myntra, highlights that categories such as women’s western and Indian wear, occasion wear, footwear, handbags, and even premium gifting items are experiencing robust demand through M-Now, affirming speed as a crucial element in modern fashion and beauty e-commerce. He anticipates hyper-speed fashion delivery to become an increasingly significant component of the overall e-commerce mix, particularly in metros and emerging Tier II markets.
The ascent of quick fashion has also galvanized investor interest in agile startups pioneering speed-first propositions. Bengaluru-based Slikk, an early mover in the quick-commerce fashion segment, recently secured $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from Lightspeed. This capital injection is earmarked for expanding into broader lifestyle categories, introducing instant returns, and extending its 60-minute delivery footprint beyond Bengaluru. Mumbai-based Knot, another prominent quick-fashion delivery startup, has attracted over $8 million in funding to bolster its rapid-delivery network. Knot differentiates itself by offering doorstep trials and leveraging AI-powered try-ons, aiming to significantly reduce return rates – a critical challenge in online fashion. These startups are focused on scaling micro-warehouses and refining last-mile operations, illustrating the capital-intensive nature of building out robust quick fashion infrastructure.
A primary driver behind this intense focus on speed is the inherent challenge of high return rates in online fashion. Globally, apparel return rates can range from 20% to as high as 40% for online purchases, significantly impacting profitability due to reverse logistics costs, restocking fees, and potential inventory write-offs. Quick fashion directly addresses this by catering to impulse-led, occasion-driven demand. Sumit Jasoria, founder of digital-first brand NEWME, notes that over 70% of orders for its quick-delivery vertical, Zip (offering 30-60 minute fulfilment in Bengaluru and 60-90 minutes in Delhi-NCR), are for outfits customers need on the same day. This immediacy shortens the crucial time gap between purchase and actual use, thereby reducing "buyer’s remorse" or "second thoughts." When a customer receives an item quickly for an immediate need, the likelihood of returning it due to a change of mind or finding an alternative significantly decreases. Moreover, services like doorstep trials and AI-powered try-ons, as offered by Knot, provide a quasi-physical store experience, further mitigating sizing and fit issues, which are major contributors to returns.
Beyond reducing returns, quick fashion enhances conversion rates and minimizes cancellations and failed deliveries by ensuring higher on-hand inventory at local delivery points. NEWME’s Jasoria emphasizes that managing fulfilment in-house, through a network of dark stores and brand outlets, provides superior control over inventory, delivery timelines, and customer experience. The economic viability, he explains, hinges on precise inventory placement, guided by data science models that predict high-probability sales within specific micro-markets. While last-mile delivery costs are inherently higher, these are offset by the substantial benefits of lower return rates, improved conversion, and faster inventory turnover, leading to a more efficient and profitable operational cycle. This strategic approach transforms quick delivery from a mere convenience into a fundamental mechanism for optimizing the entire retail value chain.
The acceleration in quick fashion has coincided with a broader recovery in India’s apparel retail market. After a cautious start to 2025, marked by low single-digit growth due to reduced discretionary spending, the sector witnessed a resurgence from August onwards. This improvement was fueled by festive demand, enhanced consumer sentiment, and policy measures such as GST cuts on mid-priced apparel, which made fashion more accessible. Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India (RAI), observed that fast fashion segments, in particular, outpaced the overall market growth. Looking towards 2026, Rajagopalan anticipates intensified competition, where success will be determined by execution prowess—faster product cycles, sharper assortments, and tighter inventory control. This signals a shift from purely brand-driven competition to one where operational excellence and supply chain agility become paramount.
Globally, the quest for speed in fashion is not new, with fast fashion giants like Zara and H&M having perfected rapid design-to-shelf cycles. However, quick fashion in India represents an evolution, focusing on rapid delivery to consumer rather than just rapid production. This aligns with a broader global trend where consumer expectations, shaped by the instantaneity of digital life, increasingly demand immediate gratification across all retail categories. While markets in the US and Europe have seen mixed success with pure-play quick commerce for groceries due to profitability challenges, the application to high-margin, impulse-driven fashion items, especially in a densely populated and digitally adept market like India, presents a compelling economic case. The high population density in Indian cities also allows for more efficient dark store operations and shorter delivery routes, which are critical for the economic viability of ultra-fast delivery models.
As the quick fashion segment matures, the question arises whether speed will remain a differentiator or become a hygiene factor. Jasoria of NEWME believes that while ultra-fast delivery currently offers a strong competitive edge, particularly when paired with curated styles and trend relevance, it may eventually become a baseline expectation. In such a scenario, differentiation will pivot towards superior overall customer experience, predictive trend accuracy, and unwavering reliability. For 2026 and beyond, quick fashion is poised to be central to growth strategies for many players, with continuous investments in strengthening presence in core metros, enhancing delivery speed, and broadening style availability. The confluence of technological advancements, evolving consumer behaviour, and strategic retail innovations indicates that quick fashion is not a fleeting trend but a fundamental recalibration of how apparel is bought and sold in India, redefining market dynamics and consumer engagement for years to come.
