In an era of cheap Chinese-manufactured clothes and accessories with quality issues, London-based brand, Urbanic came forayed into the Indian market with designs and outfits that were globally trending and size-inclusive. Like a breadth of fresh air, the Indian youth quickly adopted Urbanic into its midst and the brand grew rapidly.

The brand had re-invented the fashion scenario with trendy and quality clothing for Gen Z and millennial women, which were affordable, easily accessible, and delivered delivery. Today, the brand works on the motto of sustainable fashion and utilizes advanced technology to ensure it sticks to its sustainability agenda. Urbanic is one of the leading fashion brands in India and is quickly gaining traction in other emerging markets such as Brazil and Mexico.

Digital innovation, increasing globalization, and changes in consumer behavior have propelled the fashion industry to undergo a major shift. According to Statista, the e-commerce fashion industry’s CAGR is tipped to reach 14.2 percent between 2017 and 2025, with the industry hitting a $1 trillion valuation by 2024.

Growth Story
Since 2019, Urbanic has worked on bringing fashion inspirations from London to emerging markets with global supply chain strategies. Their customers are digital native women who are highly conscious of the latest trends and appreciate good quality at fair prices. Realizing this, the brand streamlined its focus to expand into emerging markets through localized differentiation.

“We are a London brand, created to enfranchise and include both our customers and our team. To that end, localization of team, talent, and expertise is our core value and focus. We have great local expertise in India, Brazil, Mexico, and London,” stated James Wellwood, Founding Partner, Urbanic London.

The company has a distinct positioning in the market as it is a mass-premium fashion brand that provides trendy clothing at fair prices to Indian women. Being a community-based brand, its efforts have been centered on building and strengthening a community that could spread the news about Urbanic. Essentially, the customers became the brand ambassadors themselves.

Why India?

Realizing the existing gap in the emerging markets specifically in terms of accessibility of trendy and quality clothing options to Gen Z and millennial women, led to the birth of Urbanic. Taking customer feedback diligently and leveraging it while creating a seamless experience for its shoppers, became its strengths. Sourcing and manufacturing globally, Urbanic is further looking for vendors in India this year to kick start the production here.

“Our customers' responses in India have been great, especially in terms of designs and trends. Hence, we have channelized resources into having a hands-on design and buying team that works rigorously and are always on the lookout for emerging trends. Furthermore, based on our customer demands, we are planning to introduce a basic collection soon,” commented Wellwood.

The Indian fashion industry is evolving constantly, especially e-commerce brands. Currently, there are many growing and emerging e-commerce brands in the Indian market, this growth can be attributed to the deep penetration of smartphones and robust internet connectivity. Brands are thus aiming to capitalize on the customer's affinity towards online shopping and e-commerce.

Sustainability Drive

With its major brand pillar being the community-people and planet, the company is ethical in its practices and believes in giving back to the community in every possible way.

“Consumers today are aware of the environmental implications of the products that they are purchasing as they have a good understanding of sustainable products. Additionally, they also influence others to stop supporting businesses that are unethical in their practices. With conscious consumers and ethical fashion businesses that reuse plastic or abandoned apparel to create new clothing, sustainability has now become part of every brand's DNA,” asserted the Founding Partner.

Similarly, Urbanic’s appeal is to listen to the customers' demands while not considering sustainability as an extended or extra effort. The brand thus believes in incorporating ethical practices throughout its processes. From its global supply chains and global packaging to treating the deadstock with utmost care and upcycling them, sustainability and being ethical are ingrained in Urbanic’s mindset.

Technology and Innovation

Having reshaped the traditional sector with AI, machine learning, big data, and personalization to digitalize the supply chain, the brand has pioneered developing a personalized recommendation algorithm to improve customer shopping and the ‘discovery for fun’ experience.

“We also have been scientifically forward-thinking in our approach to supply and demand, and built a C2M (consumer-to-manufacture) model, making the turn-around on an order nimble, while keeping the numbers low so styles can sell out and don’t become waste,” asserted Wellwood.

Moreover, the brand’s future endeavors involve continuous investment in its people and technology, with the goal of earning the right to be known as a responsible fashion brand acting for the good of the community.

Retail Focus 2023

Urbanic now aims to focus on its own ecosystem along with quality product development. It further intends to leverage technology and AI to find trends and channel efforts in developing product offerings that promise the best experience to the customers and community.

“Our research and developments team are working rigorously and we will be introducing sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics soon,” commented Wellwood. Apart from being quality conscious, the brand will focus on strengthening its customer support.