Artificial intelligence is no longer just recommending what to buy. It is beginning to decide and purchase on a shopper's behalf. India's fashion sector, projected to reach $1.93 trillion by 2030, faces a structural question that goes beyond technology adoption: when a customer's AI agent goes shopping, will it choose your brand over a competitor's?

Textile recycling has spent years trapped between ambition and evidence, with fibre-to-fibre promises rarely translating into commercial deployment. The recent Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels marked a shift. Automated sorting, chemical and mechanical recycling, and Digital Product Passports moved from concept to working infrastructure, forcing an uncomfortable question about who will actually buy the output.

Water pollution, resource consumption and regulatory scrutiny are converging on one of textile manufacturing's most established processes. Dyeing remains essential to fabric production, yet significant quantities of water, energy and chemicals are consumed in managing unfixed colourants. As compliance requirements tighten globally, manufacturers are reassessing how efficiency, wastewater management and competitiveness intersect.

Is textile circularity entering a more mature phase of development within the European circular economy agenda? The just-concluded IFAT 2026 reflected a broader shift in the European debate: textile circularity is indeed increasingly being understood as an infrastructure and systems challenge rather than simply a waste-management problem. A report.

The just-launched Padma Doree initiative has been positioned as more than a fabric line, with Eri silk and Chanderi brought together inside a premium craft category that speaks of sustainability and artisan value, yet the claim will remain incomplete until the initiative shows who earns, who decides, who carries risk and whether the premium travels back to the loom through durable market demand.

India’s denim industry has evolved from a domestic manufacturing base into a major force in the global denim economy. With capacity exceeding 1,600 million metres annually and strong export linkages, the sector now stands at a new inflection point where sustainability, value addition, and market diversification will shape its next phase of growth.

The apparel sector now produces more climate data than at any earlier point. Fifty companies under the STICA initiative disclosed emissions inventories, transition plans, and targets in 2025. Yet sector-wide emissions continue to rise, and nearly half of signatories report they are behind on primary climate targets. The distance between disclosure capability and actual decarbonisation performance is not closing.

Chennai's IILF 2026 exposed contradictions shaping India's leather industry: innovative chemical systems alongside organisational failures, Trump tariffs suppressing demand yet prices holding firm, and sustainability frameworks that never reach tannery workers. The 'Leather Carnival' demonstrated both the sector's professionalisation and its struggle to reconcile traditional identity with market realities.

As climate risk, regulatory scrutiny, and supply-chain volatility intensify, the question facing the industry is no longer whether alternative materials can be developed, but whether they can be scaled with reliability, accountability, and long-term resilience.

Indian fashion’s modern history has been shaped as much by its chroniclers as its creators. Among them, Meher Castelino occupied a distinctive place, combining reportage with long institutional memory. Her writing, consulting, and editorial contributions tracked the industry’s growth from its early professionalisation to its global presence. Her death signals the loss of a voice that understood fashion as labour, culture, and record.