As fast fashion in India enters a new phase marked by price wars, omnichannel experiments, and aggressive Gen Z targeting, one brand is quietly scaling without the usual retail theatrics. While most players are racing to expand offline and diversify across categories, Urbanic is charting a markedly different path. The brand has no physical stores, no men’s line, and no immediate plans to become a lifestyle label. Instead, it’s leaning into a data-driven supply chain powered by artificial intelligence, a tightly curated women’s wear portfolio, and a large-scale influencer marketing engine built and managed entirely in-house.
This singular approach, say industry watchers, is both its moat and its test. In a post-Shein, post-COVID India, where consumers expect fashion to be both affordable and expressive, Urbanic is positioning itself as a digitally-native brand that caters to the demands of younger, city-based shoppers—without mirroring the broader template of fashion retail.
A tech company that sells clothes?
“We’re not a traditional fashion brand,” Rahul Dayama, founding partner, Urbanic, told BrandWagon Online. “Our backbone is a technology platform that powers our supply chain and helps us respond to real-time demand signals. We don’t operate like a conventional apparel company.”
Urbanic’s supply chain is managed using AI and psychographic data, which enables the company to forecast demand, stock inventory based on weather and consumer behaviour, and reduce unsold products. “For us, psychographics—understanding consumer aspirations and behaviours—matter more than demographics. Our backend is trained to adjust to regional and seasonal demand changes,” Dayama explains. “For instance, what sells in Brazil in summer is very different from what works in Delhi during the monsoons.”
The company doesn’t follow the industry norm of planning fashion seasons in advance. Instead, it treats every week as a potential micro-season, with algorithms helping dictate what gets produced and where it’s stocked. Urbanic also avoids excess inventory by mapping demand at the pin code level.
This has allowed the brand to operate without any offline stores and still maintain a presence across India’s metros and large Tier-2 markets. “We don’t think in terms of Tier 1 or Tier 2 cities anymore. Social media has democratised trend access. If a consumer in a smaller city wants a trending silhouette or shade, we ensure it’s available to them at the same time as someone in Mumbai or Moradabad.”
Influencer-first, but not influencer-dependent
A key pillar of Urbanic’s consumer engagement model is its extensive network of content creators. Over the past few years, it has worked with more than 35,000 influencers across the country. The brand runs its influencer operations in-house, without relying on agencies, enabling it to build long-term creator relationships and tailor content to different consumer cohorts.
“We work with around 500 creators every month, across barter and paid campaigns. I often tell my team—think of the end consumer as your client, not the brand,” Dayama says. “That shift in mindset makes a big difference in how content is shaped. Our team’s role is to match the right creator with the right narrative, not just run volume-driven campaigns.”
A recent campaign had creators work inside Urbanic’s warehouse alongside female logistics staff, offering a behind-the-scenes look at order fulfilment. The intent, Dayama says, was to bridge the front and back-end of fashion delivery and build trust with consumers who value transparency and operational credibility.
This model, while capital-intensive in terms of coordination, allows Urbanic to create platform-specific content for Instagram, YouTube Shorts and WhatsApp simultaneously—key channels for its 16–35-year-old target group. It’s also helped the brand stay agile in how it responds to emerging trends, from silhouette shifts to seasonal colour palettes.
Product and pricing built for India
Urbanic’s price point—largely between Rs 999 and Rs 2,499—targets aspirational consumers looking for trend-led but accessible fashion. The brand claims its affordability is a byproduct of inventory efficiency, not a compromise on product quality.
“We’ve done deep research into fabrics that can withstand Indian weather. We use AI to design silhouettes based on how Indian bodies respond to cuts and curves. Our denim line, for instance, is engineered using fit data to ensure both flexibility and comfort,” Dayama notes.
The brand also emphasises India-specific merchandising cycles—summer-heavy fabrics, monsoon-friendly fits, and UV-protective layering options—rather than mirroring global seasonal calendars. Its product experimentation, however, is cautious. Urbanic introduces new categories or extended size ranges only when internal data suggests sustained demand.
“Our approach to inclusivity is data-led. We’ve expanded into larger sizes where we saw gaps in the market, but we didn’t want to do it for the optics. Fit, quality, and consistency are non-negotiable,” says Dayama.
A brand that’s not chasing everything
In an environment where fashion players are diversifying across categories—moving into men’s wear, footwear, accessories and more—Urbanic is keeping its focus tight. Its consumer base is overwhelmingly female, urban, and social media-savvy. That focus has allowed the company to deepen engagement rather than chase new verticals prematurely.
“There’s a temptation in this space to do too much, too quickly. We’ve intentionally avoided that. For now, women’s fashion in urban India is a big enough market, and we’re still scratching the surface,” Dayama says. “We’d rather do one thing with depth than five things at surface level.”
The big picture
Urbanic’s positioning puts it somewhere between Shein’s hyper-fast fashion model and Zara’s high street appeal—but with more emphasis on data and localisation. Unlike Reliance’s Yousta, which is also targeting younger consumers but through an omnichannel presence, Urbanic is betting entirely on digital discovery and convenience.
Industry analysts note that while Urbanic’s backend efficiency and focused brand architecture give it an edge, its growth trajectory will eventually depend on how well it adapts to rising concerns around sustainability, ethical sourcing, and value-driven consumption—especially as Gen Z consumers become more vocal about these issues.
“At Urbanic, fashion isn’t just about trends, it’s about precision, agility, and purpose. We’re proud to have achieved less than 1% dead stock, a testament to our razor-sharp focus on efficiency and innovation.Behind this success lies Urbanic’s AI-powered demand forecasting system, which doesn’t just follow trends, it predicts them. This data-driven intelligence allows us to align production with real-time consumer behaviour, ensuring that every piece we create has a purpose and a place. Our sourcing strategy is equally dynamic season-led and curated to complement the unique design narrative of each collection. From fabric selection to final stitch, we adapt swiftly, staying ahead of the curve while keeping waste to a bare minimum,” Dayama added.
For Urbanic, staying relevant may not mean becoming bigger—it may simply mean staying sharper, faster, and closer to what its audience wants.