The New Comfortwear That Is Taking Indian Shoppers By Storm

Posted by Hardik Jain on December 19th, 2018

Staying comfortable is one of the most important aspects of dressing. Whether at work or at home, it is a prudent idea to go for comfortwear. Yes, that's the new term that's been doing the rounds in the fashion industry of late. But hey, let us not get into debates about terms and dive in to find about about this cool new garment that is doing the rounds in the Indian shopping scene.

Is it a T Shirt? Is it a Dress? It's both!!

This new garment, often dubbed as a long top, has suddenly gained immense popularity in India. Everyone wants one and the e-commerce stores are complying to the customer demands by coming up with cool features and designs. Souled Store, an online shop has come up with T Shirt dresses with pockets that make these beauties super useful as well as comfortable! Swag Swami's dresses, on the other hand, focus primarily on cute designs to make them stand out among the crowd.

Whatever the feature, the people can't seem to get enough of these outfits. According to an estimate by the Indian E-Commerce Owners' Association, T Shirt Dresses have grown from 1.2% textile market share in January 2017 to almost 4% textile market share in November 2018! They estimate that the growth will continue till dresses account for around 10-12% of the textile market share in Indian e-commerce.

When Priya, an independent fashion blogger asked Nandini, a self-proclaimed shopaholic who proudly owns 231 T Shirt dresses, about the charm of these outfits, "They are neither a formal wear, nor a casual wear - oh wait, they are both! That's exactly what makes them so unique. I can sport a tshirt dress and walk into a party as easily as I can walk into my workplace. Oh, I also use them as night dresses, since they are so comfortable!" says Nandini. 

This multi-purpose nature of the outfit is the primary reason why they are gaining popularity in India. The Indian fashion space has forever been restricted due to rigid and patriarchal social norms. However, with all kinds of stereotypes being broken and thrown away these days, the liberated Indian woman chooses to express herself through her choice of clothes, hairstyle, and makeup. These factors have brought out the best in them, also parallelly causing a huge increase in the demand for these products. 

There is, however, one final barrier that firmly remains in place though - the divide between the Urban and the Rural women. The liberation, modernization, etc. of women, unfortunately seems to have stopped with the Indian cities. Rural women are still bound by the traditional norms and suffer from unjust practices day in and day out. It is imperative that not just the NGOs and government organizations take part in trying to bridge this divide between the urban and rural women. Corporates, entrepreneurs and e-commerce giants should take it upon themselves to bring awareness to even the most remote parts of the country. It will not only help in empowering those women, but also help in creating a new market for the products that the corporates and e-commerce giants sell!