Fashion Startups that started five Top Trends of 2016

2016 has been a weird year but there have been some upsides to it. E-commerce grew like never before thanks to demonetization and as a result, fashion as a category has been positively affected this year.

Business Insider decided to delve into five trends that have upped the ante for fashion due to e-commerce. Here they are:

The rise of Fashion re-commerce
The idea of re-commerce involves reselling products or items as you outgrow them. Today there is an increasing awareness among consumers to re-use and recycle and for the longest time there was no platform that allowed selling and buying of goods that are still in perfect condition. This gave birth to a number of re-commerce fashion startups such as Coutloot –where you can buy and sell pre-loved clothes very easily and Zapyle that sells pre-owned luxury goods.

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Online to offline fashion retail
A decade ago, most websites were essentially a digital brochure comprising images, descriptions, and specifications of products you could buy somewhere else. Soon the online platforms started selling products and services on their platforms. Hence online to offline shopping concept evolved and many retailers took the omnichannel route. For instance Jabong has announced the full-service retail store in Bangalore, similarly, Mumbai fashion startup FYND launched, an in-store feature that helps customers Browse + Discover products that are available, not just in that store, but every store of that brand.

Funding in Fashion startups
Indian based entrepreneurs are successfully using social media to create fashion communities that together discover, share and, most importantly, buy. While the fashion e-commerce space is already crowded, there are few unique fashion tech startups that are opening greater possibilities in the exclusive world of fashion. Talent & discovery, social & talent networking platforms, focusing on community building, to re-commerce, a lot of fashion-tech companies have created a niche for themselves and growing exponentially. This also remains one of the main reasons why Fashion startups continue to draw investor’s attention.

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Focus on homegrown fashion talents and professionals
India has emerged as the one of the world’s largest talent producing countries in fashion. Lack of opportunities and limited access to the world outside are the existing challenges for aspiring minds from Tier 2 / 3 market. With the help of digitization, few fashion startups are able to connect this talent and create avenues for them. From talent networking to portfolio management these platforms have a lot to offer. 6Degree a fashion-tech platform has created opportunities for not only new designers but also for fashion professionals who have started late in their career.

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Customer experience on priority
Use of technology for enhanced fashion buying experience, hassle-free exchange and return etc
A lot of Fashion based startups are shifting their focus on customer delight to bring in the enhanced buying experience. Implementing newer technology for the smooth transition, they are making sure that consumers interact with retailers in multiple ways. Innovation in technology has led these startups to create a unique proposition that helps them standout. Innovative technology-driven concepts like digital stores, Virtual assistant, Fashion chat bots are introduced everyday is bridging the gap between retailers and customers, like never before.