The fashion of anything keeps changing with time. Earlier in India, the 'kurta', 'lungi' and 'saree' were a trend among Indians. All of these items were made of cotton. In the 1970s international fashion arrived in India with the bold colors, flower prints and bell-bottoms. Synthetics turned trendy and the disco culture affected the fashion scenario. It was a point, when the Indian fashion scenario reached a certain steady level and from there, in the beginning of the 21st century, with the evolution of new designers, models and more sensible designing, the fashion hype accelerated. The Apparel Industry in India (AII) is one of the leading apparel industries in the world. Primarily it was quite unorganized but the scenario has been changing with time. It was mainly started after the economic liberalization of Indian economy in 1991. The opening up of economy gave the much-needed thrust to the Indian apparel industry, which has now successfully become one of the largest in the world. India is one of the largest producers of fibre in the world. The main fibres produced in India include cotton, silk, jute, wool, and man-made fibres. India is the third largest producer of cotton, the second largest producer of silk and the fifth largest producer of man-made fibres. India has a strong domestic as well as international demand which led to huge growth of the AII. From the past few years fashion retailing sector is aligning with global trends with retailing firms such as Shoppers Stop, and Crossroads entering into middle class segment. It is being predicted that the apparel sector in India will grow at a very fast rate in the next few years. With the change in lifestyle, increase in per capita income and urbanization of the Indian consumers, the attitude of spending money on fashion related articles such as apparel is increasing a lot. Simultaneously the AII, accounting for the current demand and forecasting for the future demand of Indian consumers, has also gone through significant changes in production as well as availability of latest fashion designs and brands.
