Betting on speed: Can fashion startups survive the quick commerce gamble?

Mint

08-05-2025

Funding for Indian fashion startups has sharply declined—from $611 million across 111 rounds in 2023 to just $55.9 million across 36 rounds in 2025, according to Tracxn data. Yet, despite dwindling investment, startups like Slikk and Accel-backed NEWME are doubling down on a risky, high-speed gamble: that consumers will pay for fashion delivered in under an hour.
Slikk has secured $3.2 million in seed funding from Lightspeed Ventures to scale its 60-minute delivery model, while NEWME, which raised $18 million in its series A round, plans to offer 30-60 minute deliveries in Bengaluru and other metros.
'We will be ready to offer between 30-minute to 60-minute delivery in a lot of metro cities in a couple of months and that's a big priority for us," said Sumit Jasoria, co-founder of NEWME.
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The rationale behind these rapid delivery models is simple: online fashion buying has typically been event-driven, but impulsive purchases still skew toward offline retail. The question remains: Can the economics of speed hold up in a fiercely competitive and capital-intensive market?
Both startups—Slikk and NEWME—are betting they can redefine fashion e-commerce by offering delivery times that rival those of food delivery platforms. Myntra's 30-minute 'M-Now' and Flipkart's 8–16-minute 'Minutes' have already set the tone for instant fashion gratification, with both companies focusing on ultra-quick deliveries.
The logic is straightforward: While online fashion buying has typically been event-driven, impulse purchases continue to be dominated by offline retail.
By running dark stores stocked with fast-moving apparel for hyperlocal delivery, Slikk and NEWME offer deliveries within 60–90 minutes—significantly faster than Myntra or Flipkart, which usually deliver in 1–3 days due to their centralized inventory models.
'If you can collapse the delivery, return and refund cycle from 7-10 days to 60-90 minutes, the entire psyche of the customer changes," said Akshay Gulati, co-founder of Slikk.
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Specific figures for fashion within quick commerce are scarce, but according to Bain & Company, India's quick-commerce market is expected to grow over 40% annually until 2030, accounting for 10% of total e-retail spending.
'The Indian e-retail market has surged to approximately $60 billion in gross merchandise value," the report added.
Central to this model is the idea that not all fashion is created equal.
"This entire industry has run on a dropship, asset-light model," said Gulati. 'But we're applying a 20-80 principle in fashion: your top 20% of styles drive 80% of your revenue. You can have 10,000 items, but it's the top 2,000 that really move the needle."
NEWME's model is even more focused, claiming that 90% of its sales come from just 10% of its styles. To maintain freshness, NEWME drops new collections every Friday and phases out old ones, treating styles almost like perishable goods.
'We want to keep curation close to consumers. We think of a style like milk—it has an expiry date, lasting just 60 to 90 days. That's why every Friday, we launch new collections and kill old ones. Freshness is core to our value proposition, and that drives very fast inventory turnover," added Jasoria.
Both Slikk and NEWME have distinct strategies for addressing unsold inventory. Slikk employs a 'Try and Buy" model, allowing customers to try on items at delivery and return them instantly if unsatisfied. By prioritizing instant refunds, returned inventory is restocked and quickly made available for resale.
NEWME operates a near-zero inventory model, producing items based on real-time demand data, further enhancing the agility of its operations.
According to Rahul Taneja, partner at Lightspeed, the firm was drawn by Slikk's strong repeat user behaviour, evident in their month-on-month growth.
'As consumer expectations have changed, everything is desired sooner. And, so, within quick commerce, you're now seeing verticals emerge-fashion is prime among them," said Taneja.
⁠'As young professionals enter the workforce and start earning, one of their main discretionary spend is towards looking good. It is visible in beauty, fashion and overall Instagram behaviour. That's a tailwind for the category, which is large, and the behaviour is repeatable," he added.
Curation is also becoming crucial to consumer decision-making, as shoppers shift from doom scrolling through thousands of options to seeking speed and simplicity.
⁠'If you want to deliver instant gratification to consumers, you also have to help them find options that are more relevant and trendier, so they can arrive at a decision faster," said Taneja.
Despite the optimism, there are concerns about the profitability of the model. Running dark stores and offering rapid deliveries increase logistical costs. Fast fashion's dependence on variety further complicates inventory management.
'I don't think you can be profitable by just being digital," said Anand Ramanathan, partner consumer industry leader at Deloitte. 'And, therefore, the faster you scale offline and grow offline, the more likelihood of success in a fast fashion kind of setup. Especially since fast fashion has lower margins than some of the more premium segments," Ramanathan said.
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'The more you depend on quick commerce, the more the margin bleed there will be," he said, adding that success in tier 2 and tier 3 markets will hinge not just on logistics, but behavioural change and price strategy.
The quick-commerce fashion model, which typically operates with high burn rates due to the cost-intensive nature of logistics and customer acquisition, faces profitability challenges. However, founders argue that repeat purchases, scale and private labels will drive profitability over time.
Beyond the immediate consumer appeal, however, a deeper question arises.
'With limited regulation, these platforms thrive on psychological nudges: pop-ups, flash discounts and interface tricks designed to drive impulse purchases," said Farheen, policy and trust analyst at the Advanced Study Institute of Asia at SGT University, Delhi.
Farheen remarked that with limited regulation, these platforms thrive on psychological nudges like pop-ups, flash discounts and various dark patterns, which push consumers to make fast decisions without much thought. According to her, it's an entire ecosystem designed to prime the consumer to act on impulse.
The results, she pointed out, are visible in the form of more confusion, less patience and a heightened sense of immediacy. Beyond the checkout, there are negative consequences, including burnout among gig workers, unsustainable waste from fast fashion cycles and growing pressure on small offline sellers. While quick commerce may make sense for platforms chasing scale, she questioned whether it truly works for those participating in it.
Meanwhile, the challenges of quick commerce extend beyond consumer behaviour and logistics. For instance, NEWME is banking on high repeat usage to justify its cost structure, with physical stores acting as pseudo dark stores. Jasoria noted that the company operates 14 offline stores and plans to add 10 to 12 more by the end of the year.
As Ramanathan points out, last-mile logistics and dark store operations account for the bulk of delivery costs, which remain high. NEWME's approach of using physical stores for faster deliveries adds to operational costs, exposing the startup to risks like demand volatility.
Quick commerce excels with basics and trendy items but struggles with the 'fat middle"—the variety of less trendy or more niche items. Managing a wide range of stock keeping units (SKUs) is a challenge for fashion, as unpredictable demand for trendy items makes inventory management more complex, said Ashish Kumar, co-founder at Fundamentum.
Fashion, however, is trickier due to the unpredictable demand for trendy items with short lifespans.
This is partly why Meesho remains cautious, focusing instead on affordability and long-tail supply strategies for tier 2 and 3 markets, where price outweighs speed, according to Vidit Aatrey, co-founder and chief executive officer of Meesho.
Kumar of Fundamentum echoes this concern, saying, 'In apparel, only about 40-60% of revenue comes from a narrow set of SKUs, unlike grocery where 80% comes from essentials. Fashion consumers seek variety, making the supply chain more complex."
At the same time, platforms such as Wishlink and Lehlah are capitalizing on the growing trend of curated fashion, focusing on personalized recommendations to drive decision-making and accelerate the path from inspiration to purchase.
Fundamentum has invested in Wishlink, a content-commerce platform, while Wishlink's peer, Lehlah, recently raised
₹
12.5 crore (~$1.4 million), led by Nikhil Kamath's investment firm, Gruhas.
Gulati, for now, is less focused on profitability. 'The key success metric for us at this scale is repeat user activity, not operational profit," he said, declining to share specific numbers.