Ahead of the 2025 festive season, Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, announced the launch of ‘Fashion Spotlight’, its flagship program to accelerate the growth of digital-first fashion brands, especially from T2+ regions. The D2C landscape for Fashion remains a key growth opportunity especially for those from T2+ regions, who may not have access to the right tools that can enable them to exponentially scale their business. Flipkart plans to scale the program 10X by year-end, reaching around 500 brands, and eventually expanding its reach to several more; turning Fashion Spotlight into a truly democratized launchpad for D2C fashion talent.

Flipkart Launches ‘Fashion Spotlight’ to Power India’s Emerging D2C Fashion Ecosystem

Flipkart has launched ‘Fashion Spotlight’, a flagship programme to accelerate digital-first fashion brands, particularly from T2+ regions, ahead of the 2025 festive season.
With 100+ brands already live, Flipkart aims to scale to 500 brands by year-end, offering tools like video cataloguing, live commerce and virtual try-ons to create a tech-powered, high-conversion growth platform.

This strategic rollout comes just in time for the festive season, traditionally the zenith of fashion demand. With 100+ D2C fashion brands already live on Flipkart Fashion today, the organisation is scaling its efforts to bring curated, trend-led selection to millions of shoppers across the country. Several D2C Fashion brands have already witnessed tremendous growth on Flipkart’s marketplace such as Rare Rabbit growing over 500% YoY, Miraggio at over 2300%, and Zouk recording over 200% growth in the past year.

With 1 in 3 customers on Flipkart making their first-ever purchase in Fashion, and purchase intent on the app growing 3X in the past year when compared to social media platforms, the Spotlight programme becomes a high-conversion environment for digital-first brands. Going beyond traditional accelerator models, the program integrates Flipkart’s full-stack capabilities, including video cataloguing, image search, Live Commerce, and virtual try-ons, to create a tech-powered, trust-led ecosystem where fashion entrepreneurs can scale with speed and confidence.

As part of this launch phase, 50 high-potential brands will be onboarded with a focus on those solving for specific customer needs including unique style, value, and regional relevance. Fashion Spotlight is focused on enabling early-stage fashion entrepreneurs who may have found initial traction among their immediate networks but are now seeking to scale and become brands in their own right.

Flipkart has observed that while product innovation is thriving across India’s fashion landscape from climate-conscious fabrics to regional design revival, the biggest bottleneck for many fashion entrepreneurs and D2C brands remains discovery and distribution. Spotlight aims to bridge that gap with Flipkart’s strengths in consumer data, merchandising expertise, and platform reach. The programme is structured around three key pillars: identifying real consumer need gaps, crafting differentiated product experiences, and delivering iterative feedback to improve assortment, visibility, and conversions. Spotlight offers a managed service layer, where Flipkart works closely with entrepreneurs to test product-market fit, iterate on catalogues using cohort feedback, and provide guaranteed visibility much like a VC would invest in early-stage innovation.

A Platform Built Around Brand Growth, Not Gatekeeping

• The initiative empowers early-stage fashion entrepreneurs with three key pillars:
• Curated Discovery: Elevating standout products to a wide audience
• Iterative Product Feedback: Fostering product-market fit through structured learnings
• Guaranteed Visibility: Amplified exposure without commission or exclusivity constraints

Tapping Festive and Bharat Tailwinds

• Flipkart’s move aligns with wider shifts in India’s fashion market:
• Consumers are increasingly buying based on trend, identity, and comfort—not just deals.
• Fashion is now a key growth driver: one in three new Flipkart users discovers the platform through fashion.

Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)

The 56th meeting of the GST Council held recently has culminated in a landmark restructuring of India’s indirect tax regime, with far-reaching implications across key sectors.

The earlier five-tier GST structure—comprising 0 per cent, 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, and 28 per cent slabs—has been replaced by a more streamlined framework featuring just two principal rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, supplemented by a new “sin and luxury” rate of 40 per cent for a narrow band of goods.

The revised GST rates are scheduled to take effect from September 22.

For the apparel and textile sector, the council has fixed a uniform 5 per cent GST rate on readymade garments and made ups, excluding items under HS codes 63053200, 63053300, and 6309.

In a significant rationalisation, the GST on manmade fibres has been slashed from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, while yarns have been brought down from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. This alignment effectively corrects the long-standing inverted duty structure (IDS) across the MMF value chain—fibre, yarn, and fabric—removing a key distortion that had undermined manufacturing competitiveness and locked up working capital.

Given that a substantial portion of MMF production takes place in the MSME segment, the rate cuts are expected to alleviate cost burdens, enhance liquidity, and improve cash flow efficiency.

More importantly, the move bolsters the global price competitiveness of Indian MMF-based garments, reinforcing the country’s strategic objective of becoming a dominant hub for synthetic textiles and MMF-based apparel.

The timing of the GST overhaul is particularly crucial, offering timely relief to an industry reeling from the impact of US President Donald Trump’s steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods.

While the Government has maintained that the GST reform has been in the works for over a year and is not a reactionary policy move to US tariffs, the revised GST structure is nonetheless seen as a much-needed support mechanism for export-oriented industries navigating severe external shocks.

Industry stakeholders largely welcomed the reform, viewing it as a long-overdue rationalisation of what many felt was an irrational tax structure.

S.K. Sundararaman, Chairman of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA), reportedly noted that the prior tax regime—where MMF inputs were taxed higher than outputs—effectively made affordable clothing more expensive for end consumers. The rectification is expected not only to enhance affordability but also to reduce import dependency by promoting domestic value addition.

Rakesh Mehra, Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, echoed similar sentiments, emphasising that the alignment of tax rates across the MMF value chain is a critical step toward resolving longstanding working capital constraints faced by thousands of spinners and weavers.

Mehra reportedly also pointed out that over 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the textile and apparel ecosystem is comprised of MSMEs, many of which operate on tight margins and limited cash reserves. For them, any measure that eases input cost burdens and streamlines refunds has a direct bearing on operational viability and market competitiveness.

Some concerns have, however, emerged centring on the move to impose an 18 per cent GST on garments priced above ₹2,500.

The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), while fully endorsing the revised GST rate structure and commending the Government for accepting two key industry demands—the elimination of the inverted duty structure by applying a uniform 5 per cent  GST across the entire value chain from fibre onward, and the adoption of a fibre-neutral approach by aligning MMF and cotton fibre chains—has urged the GST Council to address one anomaly: the imposition of 18 per cent GST on garments priced above ₹2,500.

CMAI stressed that this higher tax rate undermines affordability and creates an unnecessary burden on consumers, despite the broader positive intent of the reform.

The Retailers Association of India (RAI), while supportive of the move towards a simpler dual-rate GST system, also flagged the structural shortcomings of price-based tax slabs. The RAI has recommended the adoption of a uniform GST rate across product categories, cautioning that the 18 per cent GST on apparel items priced above ₹2,500 could distort consumer behaviour and suppress demand in key segments of the fashion retail market.

Some industry insiders also believe that the differential tax treatment based on price bands may inadvertently fuel the growth of the grey market, leading to an uptick in counterfeit and substandard goods as consumers seek cheaper alternatives.

Others have highlighted that apparel brands and retailers typically operate on razor-thin margins and may have no option but to pass on the higher tax burden to the consumers.

In such a scenario, the anticipated growth in domestic fashion retail could be impacted.

Notwithstanding the apprehensions, the on-ground impact of the new GST structure will become more apparent in the quarters following its implementation, most stakeholders felt, while underlining that with any policy overhaul of this magnitude, one cannot completely rule out transitional friction.

However, the broader consensus within the industry suggests that the benefits, particularly in terms of ease of doing business and improved cost efficiencies, might very well outweigh the short-term disruptions, if any.

The 56th GST Council meeting introduced a simplified regime, collapsing the earlier five-rate system into two primary slabs.
A uniform 5 per cent GST has been fixed for most garments and manmade fibres/yarns.
Some trade bodies have raised concerns over the 18 per cent GST on garments above ₹2,500; the majority, however, feel the reform will boost competitiveness and sectoral growth.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DR)

The United Overseas Bank (UOB) recently raised its 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for Vietnam to 7.5 per cent from 6.9 per cent earlier, citing economic resilience and dynamism despite tariff risks and uncertainties.

The Vietnamese government is targeting a GDP growth of 8.3-8.5 per cent this year.

The United Overseas Bank has raised Vietnam’s 2025 GDP growth forecast to 7.5 per cent from 6.9 per cent, citing economic resilience and dynamism despite tariff risks and uncertainties.
The government’s 2025 growth target is 8.3-8.5 per cent.
For 2026, UOB maintained its growth forecast at 7 per cent.
It expects the country’s exports to grow by about 10 per cent in 2025 compared with 14 per cent in 2024.

For 2026, UOB maintained its growth forecast at 7 per cent.

Vietnam’s GDP expanded by 7.52 per cent year on year (YoY) in the first half (H1) this year, marking the quickest H1 pace since 2011, according to the Singapore-based bank’s global economics and markets research unit.

The strong first-half results were propelled primarily by a 14-per cent YoY rise in exports, bolstered by improved market sentiment following US President Donald Trump’s temporary reduction of reciprocal tariffs to a baseline 10 per cent for trading partners over 90 days.

Tariff uncertainties abated in the second half of 2025 after the US locked in country-specific rates ahead of the August 1 deadline, with Vietnam’s levy settling at 20 per cent.

Despite tariff pressures, UOB expects the country’s exports to grow by about 10 per cent this year compared with 14 per cent last year, assuming a moderate 1-5 per cent YoY expansion over the rest of the year.

Vietnam’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rebounded to 52.4 in July after three consecutive months below the 50-point contraction threshold. Industrial output rose by 9 per cent YoY.

Realised FDI reached $13.6 billion as of July, up from $12.6 billion a year earlier, indicating full-year inflows may surpass $20 billion compared with $25.4 billion in 2024, a domestic news agency reported citing the UOB document.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)