Gen Z's 7-day style cycle

Mint

a day ago

Ayesha Kathuria, 19, is sizing up my 'very millennial" outfit—oversized white shirt and printed black ankle-length skirt. Red-and-white crew socks would have made my outfit 'pop", as would have a light blue bodysuit, is her verdict.
We are meeting in a fast-fashion store in a south Delhi mall. Kathuria pulls a pair of cropped trousers from a rack, and says, 'This lavender pink screams 'me'. And this red top… I follow trends but mould them… My style is trends meets chaotic customisation." The college student is referring to the notion of following a trend but pushing personalisation to an extreme. 'It's self-expression at its best. It's so my thing."
Kathuria is as serious about finding the next trend as she is about her engineering exam the following week. Her hunt for a style worth experimenting with begins with an Instagram scroll to see what influencers, celebrities and their stylists are wearing. She goes to a mall every three weeks to see how other people are dressed, to sift through the latest collections, and try on clothes for the touch-and-feel experience. Browsing Pinterest moodboards in between helps her make an informed decision. And then comes the act of shopping, on the phone—using her architect mother's credit card.
'Real fun starts after that," Kathuria says, opening the Notes app on her iPhone. It has a list of theme-based outfits she will wear through the week.
The day we met was Neon Monday: Kathuria wore a sleek bun to highlight her green eyeliner and kohl-lined brown eyes. She'd paired a crisp corset-like white shirt with bright yellow cargoes and light blue slip-ons. Hoop earrings and a one-string silver chain made her look fashionable while seeming like she didn't care about fashion at all—just the vibe she was going for.
Tuesday: Daisies and lilies. Wednesday: Cool-girl workwear.
Kathuria makes the list every Sunday evening, based on where she has to go the following week, who she's going to meet, and the 'vibe" she wishes to broadcast.
'The other, big reason (behind the list) is that I don't want to repeat an entire outfit. It might sound shallow but I don't want to be seen in the same outfit twice—not in real life, not on social media." She does repeat her clothes but styles each piece differently enough to make it look new each time—like turning a black tank top into an asymmetric one-shoulder blouse—but this happens just once in five months.
All this has led to four floor-to-ceiling wardrobes being filled with fast fashion in one year—since she started college in 2024. Her monthly shopping bill touches ₹7,000-8,000.
It's worth it, Kathuria believes. 'As a kid, I used to dress up my dolls on my mom's phone. Now, I have fun dressing myself. I'm dressing up also because I want to be seen. I'm not an influencer, but when people compliment my 'fit', I feel like a trendsetter. It tells me that I stand out with what I wear, in a good way. Isn't that what we all want?"
Over the course of two months, I had one question for people born between 1997-2012: What does Gen Z seek in fashion and why?
I spoke to 40 individuals outside colleges, via social media DMs, in the Metro, while browsing at shopping malls, and at local markets.
Why only Gen Z? With a population of over 300 million in India, they are now the largest generation ever to live in the country. And their fashion choices are not just shaping business and economy but our environment too as they consume more than generations before. The everyday question of what-to-wear has never had so many answers.
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For a second-year student in Ghaziabad, in Uttar Pradesh, fashion is an act of rebellion. Another student in Mumbai has to be 'obsessed" with a trend to follow it. A Bengaluru engineer spends his salary on 'it" clothes to ensure he doesn't get FOMO. Mood dressing defines the wardrobe of a Chennai bakery chef. A Guwahati fashion entrepreneur follows the style of Korean pop stars, while a Delhi accountant relies on the recommendations of her favourite content creator. Overall, these 40 people, aged 17-24, browsed fast-fashion apps every day and shopped at least once in two weeks using their own money or their parents'.
Fast fashion's pull is understandable. Its low cost ensures even those with a limited budget can buy the latest trends. Its constant churn of styles assures shoppers they will always be spoilt for choice. As more brands attempt to make fast fashion faster, its convenience becomes clearer.
More so for Gen Z, which wants to follow trends but are sure to add their own twist to help them build a style identity. No, they don't all aspire to be content creators; they simply like the applause and attention, as I found out in my interviews.
And neither are they looking to emulate any specific celebrity or sportsperson. They find inspiration in a range of people, but put their own personality first. So strong is the desire to be different that repeating an outfit is considered a fashion faux pas.
To be clear, there are many Gen Zers across the country who can't afford to follow a trend, even if they pay attention to it.
The growing hunger for new looks among India's Gen Z shoppers was highlighted in a 2024 report, E-Styling India: Decoding India's Online Fashion and Lifestyle Shopping Trends, by consulting firm Bain and Co. and e-commerce firm Myntra. Their purchase frequency is eight to nine times a year, compared to the national average of five to six, the report observes.
Elaborating on the finding, Nandita Sinha, chief executive officer of Myntra, told Mint in August: 'They want to have a new look every time they step out, and that's driving the frequency of purchase. They also make up almost 20-25% of the overall e-lifestyle category today."
Another study, How India Shops Online 2025, published earlier this year by Bain & Co., this time in collaboration with online marketplace Flipkart (which also owns Myntra), says Gen Z makes for 40% of e-retail shoppers of fashion.
Both reports conclude that Gen Z are trends-hungry—not surprising given that for them, figuring out an Outfit of the Day to match Vibe of the Day is all in a day's work.
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'What makes a Gen Z consumer different from, say, a millennial is that they are very trend out," says Kanika Sanghi, partner and director, Center for Customer Insight, at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She's a millennial. 'That means they will have a trend in mind and they will buy that trend without caring about the brand, unlike millennials who will buy from the same five-six brands and hesitate to experiment."
For the sake of comparison, I asked 10 millennials (aged 29-41), the generation that came before, about their approach to fashion trends. Many were keen to know what styles were trending, but they weren't that interested in following them.
'They weren't so many trends when I was growing up. In school, the popular kids used to copy either Bollywood stars or each other," recalls a college professor, 41, in Pune. 'The concept of fast fashion entered our lives a little later." (Indian consumers got the taste of fast fashion with the entry of Zara in 2010.) Would they repeat an outfit? 'Hell yeah," says a software engineer in Hyderabad. 'If I like something, why will I not wear it again?"
Trends-first buying is also fuelled by Gen Z discovering their own spending power. Every second Gen Z will be earning by the end of this year, according to The $2 Trillion Opportunity: How Gen Z is Shaping the New India by social media network Snap Inc. and BCG. Sanghi was one of the authors of this 2024 report.
'… this generation wields a total spending power of $860 billion. (Of this), approximately $200 billion comes from direct spending—money they earn and spend themselves—while $660 billion comes from influenced spending, which includes purchases influenced by their recommendations or preferences," says the report. By 2035, their direct spending is estimated to reach $1.8 trillion, implying that every second rupee of consumer spend in 2035, will be driven by India's Gen Z.
Small wonder then, brands, fast and slow, have their eyes set on the Indian Gen Z consumer. While the likes of Christian Louboutin and Tod's are launching India-focused collections to target the young, international fast fashion mega houses such as Shein and Savana are spreading their wings here. Homegrown brands are not far behind either. Tata-owned Zudio, which offers clothes as low as ₹99, for instance, is expanding its base to metros after mushrooming in tier-2 cities.
Emerging brands like Myntra's M-Now and NewMe are ensuring the market stays competitive, by offering trendy clothes at your doorstep in 30-90 minutes. A growing number of online-only clothing brands, meanwhile, are marketing themselves with one promise: 'If it's trending, you will find it here". According to a 2024 report by Redseer Strategy Consultants, India's fast fashion segment expanded 30-40% in 2023-24. The country's $10 billion fast fashion segment will hit $50 billion by 2031, it adds.
MORE IS IN
'What makes Gen Z's pull stronger is that their influence goes beyond their wardrobe," says Sanghi. 'During our research (for The $2 Trillion Opportunity report), we also spoke to parents of Gen Z to know who influences the most when it comes to the decision-making at home, whether it's for buying clothes, electronics, or even opening bank accounts. It's Gen Z. That's happening in metros as well as tier-1 and 2 cities. Parents believe Gen Zers are more informed because of the time they spend on the phone. They are becoming the in-house influencers, which gives them more (external) validation."
Who doesn't like external validation? The thing is, Gen Zers desire it almost at every level. Sanghi offers an insight: 'It's common for them to video-call or share photos with their close friends while trying on new clothes in the trial room. They want to validate before and after they buy."
Isn't this the case with millennials? 'Nope," says Sanghi's. 'I'm a millennial. We weren't calling from trial rooms. That's besides the fact that mobile connections weren't that great then, but the most we did was show clothes to our parents and a close friend after buying them."
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Every generation has revelled in trends—whether it was the hippie culture of the 1970s or the cyber-inspired elements of Y2K. But never before have trends appeared only to disappear in a week. Fast fashion introduces over 50 trends in a year compared to the three traditional cycles—spring/summer, fall/winter, and a holiday collection.
Nor have new clothes 'dropped" every 7-10 days in store and on shopping apps. Like, swipe, buy, wear—fast-fashion brands are trying every trick in the book to ensure the distance between you and the next hot piece of clothing shrinks by the hour.
The likes of Savana and NewMe, for instance, drop new collections every week. Cherry App, a Myntra-style marketplace, on the other hand, only allows people with over 1,000-plus Instagram followers to shop on their platform. If you tag Cherry and the clothing brand you've bought, you get a cashback. For the brands, it's free, 'authentic" marketing. It's a win-win.
WHEN QUANTITY MATTERS
Cocktail dresses for ₹300, ₹150 kurtas and ₹99 T-shirts might not deliver on quality but they do on trend—something Indore-based Ishika Sharma, 22, is glad about. 'I am more of a quantity person than quality," says Sharma, who has three full-size wardrobes dedicated to 200-plus summer outfits. She's completing an MBA degree online. 'I will invest ₹1,500 in jeans since you get more wear out of it. But with tops and dresses, I like having more options. So then I do the girl math." That's internet-speak for buying more at lower prices.
In the past four years, since she started earning money by teaching Kathak and doing wedding choreography, Sharma has become more mindful about her spending. She shops once in two weeks, spending about ₹4,000-5,000 each time on clothes from brands like Westside, H&M, NewMe, or any other new website she discovers while scrolling her social media feed. When her parents were paying the bill, shopping was a weekly exercise.
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She doesn't mind breaking the two-week rule for special occasions, though. Like the other day when Sharma was packing for a quick Delhi trip, she realised she didn't have anything quite fun. So, she bought a frayed denim top for ₹600.
'People don't say it out loud but you can feel they are thinking 'she doesn't have new clothes' (if I repeat clothes)," she explains. 'I wanted to wear this one dress for my birthday but I couldn't because I had posted it a few weeks before in my (Instagram) Stories. So I ordered four new ones because I had to post something on my birthday."
INSTANT 'VIBES'
Sumit Jasoria calls Gen Z 'Generation Instant". He is one of the four co-founders of NewMe, a three-year-old Gen Z-focused Bengaluru-based startup that offers new styles on its app and retail stores every week. Their clothes are produced in India as well as China. 'They want everything instantly. Instant trends, instant clothes, instant mileage, instant likes. Fashion has become instant as well. Open the phone, and there are always trending trends."
He's not exaggerating. Want to take part in a collective 'moment"? Add a labubu or any other similar small stuffed toy to your bag or belt. Feel like channelling the 1990s since you didn't experience it the first time? Buy some butterfly jewellery that your favourite influencer wore the other day. Fancy looking rich? Go for neutral shades.
NewMe, like most fast-fashion brands, wants to cash in on the relentless cycle of trends. Its online trial stores are carefully designed with a beautiful, well-lit backgrounds. The trick is to ensure that when a Gen Zer video-calls or shares a Snap with their friends for outfit approval, they get convinced easily. Low prices (the most expensive stuff on their platform is about ₹2,500) are the other obvious pull, plus marketing via content creators or through shout-outs by customers.
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They deliver clothes in Delhi and Bengaluru in about 30 minutes, relying on a network of dark stores and zonal hubs. But it's not just delivery time they're cutting. They hope to shorten the production time from creating the design to production even further—from two months to two days. Jasoria is certain that's possible with artificial intelligence (AI). 'We've studied the fantastic models of Shein, Zara, H&M our learnings have come from how they operate. But my question is when we are making clothes for such big international companies here in India, why can't a company as big as Shein or bigger emerge from our own country—clothes made in India by an Indian company and sold across the world? That's what we are working towards."
Arrsh Rehani, 19, doesn't care whether his clothes are made in India, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, Pakistan or Morocco. They just need to be trendy and fit his 6ft frame. His experimentation is rather limited compared to the rest of the people I spoke with for this story.
'I just got a (Ralph Lauren) Polo sweater with an embroidered teddy bear since a lot of my friends were talking about toycore (an aesthetic around toys, especially stuffed animals and mini-figures; the viral labubus are part of this) but that's the most experiment I will do," says Rehani, who recently moved to Australia from Noida for further studies. He's more interested in experimenting with footwear—he has over 20 pairs. So much so that he keeps searching for limited-edition Nikes, special collab adidas Sambas and latest Balenciagas on social media apps and resale websites. 'Most of my stuff comes from the brands I see on Instagram," says Rehani, who rarely posts photos on social media. 'I think I use it more as a place to get style ideas from."
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So does Umar Shaikh, 19, who follows content creators like Wisdm and actor Shah Rukh Khan for style inspiration. Often when Shaikh and his college friends at a Mumbai college meet, the first thing they discuss is whether their outfit looks like they have put in effort. 'We all exchange notes," says Shaikh, who describes his style as trendy streetwear—think baggy jeans, oversized hoodies, logo T-shirts. He sometimes borrows his elder sister Zee's clothes; the siblings are fans of the unisex style.
'You have to keep up with trends otherwise you'll get FOMO. Everybody wants to be different and also fit in; it doesn't matter whether you are posting on social media or not."
THE GREAT PARADOX
Various studies attest that Gen Z is more concerned about climate change, excessive consumption and over capitalism. But for every Licypriya Kangujam and Greta Thunberg, there are thousands chasing trends by stuffing their wardrobes with fast fashion. Studies show fast fashion is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions—more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
Esha Gambhir, a 20-year-old philosophy student in Ghaziabad, doesn't care as much about the pollution as she does about whether the clothes will complement her. 'I care about the environment but it is the last thing on my list," she says. 'I don't have the money to buy a linen top, which I think is also not very environment-friendly (she's not wrong). If my polyester top comes within my budget and I like it, I will buy it."
Zee, Shaikh's sister, on the other hand, would like to care more about the environment, but she 'also wants to look cool".
Shaikh doesn't believe his fast-fashion shopping habit is big enough to hurt the environment. Rehani, on the other hand, has heard of how wasteful fast fashion is but he doesn't buy into the idea.
'That whole notion that Gen Z is much more mindful in terms of consumption is a lot of talk," clarifies Sanghi. 'If you talk to them, they will say, of course, we care about the environment, but they don't follow it in practice."
Kathuria, too, would like to reduce her consumption, but not for now. 'Maybe once I am older? I don't think the trend-chasing will ever stop. My Gen Z is still a little aware of what fast fashion is doing to our planet. Imagine what will happen when the next lot (Gen Alpha) will start shopping? If we are trends-obsessed, they will be trend freaks."
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