Startups // Watchlist 2026–27
27 young companies changing how fashion is made, sold and reused, from Indian D2C labels and streetwear to American AI shopping tools and European fibre labs.
Each profile lists the founders, where the company is based, what it makes and its publicly reported funding, with links to our sources. Facts checked on 11 November 2026. No startup paid to be included.
27 startups · 10 countries · 13 categories
Showing 27 of 27
Seoul, South Korea · Founded 2015
Ably runs a recommendation-led fashion shopping app and gives its sellers sourcing, logistics, marketing and customer-service support. The company began with the Banharla clothing business in 2015 before launching the Ably app in 2018; it also runs men's platform 4910 and Japan-focused Amood.
Read profileNew York, United States · Founded 2023
Alta combines a digital wardrobe with an AI stylist and personalised virtual avatars. Users add clothing through photographs, receipts or product searches, then receive outfit recommendations based on what they already own; the company is also bringing its styling and virtual try-on tools to fashion brands’ websites.
Read profileLos Angeles, United States · Founded 2015
Ambercycle develops molecular regeneration technology that separates and purifies discarded textiles into materials for new clothing. Its flagship product, cycora, is regenerated polyester made from textile waste, making the company a supplier of replacement raw materials for apparel brands rather than a consumer clothing label.
Read profileNew Delhi, India · Founded 2020
Bluorng is a premium streetwear label established by design-school peers Siddhant Sabharwal and Mokam Singh. Its clothing uses bold colours, graphic prints and visual references drawn from nature, animals and human emotions. The founders built the business across design, production and direct retail while staying bootstrapped.
Read profileMumbai, India · Founded 2012
Bombay Shirt Company began as an online custom-shirt business and offers personalised menswear alongside ready-made products. Its retail experience includes fabric selection, styling advice and fittings with in-house tailors. Customers can customise details such as collars, cuffs and monograms rather than relying solely on standard off-the-rack sizing.
Read profileMumbai, India · Founded 2020
Bonkers Corner makes unisex streetwear, including oversized apparel, joggers, hoodies, sweatshirts and comfort-focused basics. Founder Shubham Gupta started with manufacturing and Instagram-led orders before developing a broader direct-retail business. The bootstrapped company has kept an emphasis on in-house operations while expanding its product range and physical presence.
Read profileNorwich, United Kingdom · Founded 2016
Colorifix has developed a biological textile-dyeing process that uses engineered microorganisms to produce, deposit and fix colour onto fabric. Its approach replaces conventional dye chemistry with fermentation, with research in Norwich, a pilot plant in Cambridge and manufacturing capability in Portugal.
Read profileBengaluru, India · Founded 2023
Comet is a lifestyle sneaker brand selling footwear for men and women. Launched in July 2023, it uses themed designs and storytelling to distinguish its products within the casual-footwear market. The business began primarily through its own website and has since expanded into standalone stores and selected multi-brand retailers.
Read profileNew York, United States · Founded 2023
Daydream runs a conversational fashion-shopping service that accepts natural-language requests and images to find products across participating brands. Shoppers refine recommendations with follow-up requests, and personalisation draws on their preferences; purchases are completed through partner merchants rather than from stock owned by Daydream.
Read profileLagos, Nigeria · Founded 2020
Dye Lab makes clothing and lifestyle products using traditional hand printing and dyeing techniques, with production rooted in Nigeria. Its contemporary shapes draw on garments such as the agbada, and its pre-order model grew from founder Rukky Ladoja making samples and taking orders from friends.
Read profileMercer Island, United States · Founded 2014
Evrnu develops textile-regeneration technology that turns cotton-rich discarded clothing and factory waste into new fibre. Its Nucycl process shreds, liquefies and purifies the textile feedstock before producing lyocell fibre, giving brands an alternative to virgin inputs and a route toward recycling clothing back into clothing.
Read profileGurugram, India · Founded 2016
FableStreet makes women’s western clothing, originating in workwear designed to address fit and wardrobe gaps experienced by Indian professionals. Its approach uses a proprietary sizing system informed by body-measurement data. The brand operates within founder-led FS Life, which is expanding its direct-to-consumer and physical-retail presence.
Read profileParis, France · Founded 2018
Fairly Made provides software that helps fashion brands trace their supply chains and assess products’ environmental and social impacts. Its platform combines traceability, eco-design tools and digital product passports, linking information about raw materials and manufacturing to disclosures brands can share with shoppers.
Read profileGurugram, India · Founded 2020
Fashinza supplies fashion brands through a technology-enabled sourcing and manufacturing business. Originally positioned as a marketplace connecting brands with manufacturers, it has since moved toward a more operationally involved model that includes factories. Cofounder Abhishek Sharma leads the company after Pawan Gupta stepped back from operational responsibilities.
Read profileUnited States · Founded 2016
Girlfriend Collective makes performance activewear from recycled materials, including post-consumer plastic waste. Its range is organised around named fabric families with different weights and performance, and the brand publishes information about its materials and factories as part of its focus on supply-chain transparency.
Read profileEspoo, Finland · Founded 2016
Infinited Fiber Company has developed technology that regenerates cotton-rich textile waste into Infinna, a cotton-like textile fibre. Spun out of Finnish research, the business is working toward industrial-scale production; its 2025 leadership change put the emphasis on operational efficiency and readiness for large-scale investment.
Read profileBengaluru, India · Founded 2022
Newme sells trend-led womenswear aimed at Gen Z shoppers through its digital platform and physical stores. Its business combines frequent introductions of new designs with investment in supply-chain capabilities, technology and data science. Cofounder and CEO Sumit Jasoria has identified offline retail as a significant area of expansion.
Read profileSan Francisco, United States · Founded 2018
Quince sells own-brand apparel, accessories and home goods directly to consumers, emphasising essentials rather than heavily branded designs. Its manufacturer-to-consumer model connects partner factories directly with shoppers and adjusts production orders using demand information, reducing reliance on the distribution layers used by traditional retailers.
Read profileJerrabomberra, Australia · Founded 2020
Samsara Eco develops enzymatic recycling technology that breaks plastics and synthetic fibres down into molecular building blocks for new materials. Its work includes recycling polyester and nylon for apparel, and it opened a new headquarters and scale-up plant in Jerrabomberra, New South Wales, in September 2025.
Read profileBengaluru, India · Founded 2019
Snitch sells trend-led menswear, including shirts, jeans, jackets, hoodies, co-ords and accessories, through digital channels and physical stores. Established in 2019, it moved into direct-to-consumer online retail in 2020. Its operating model combines frequent design launches with manufacturing and an expanding offline presence.
Read profileMumbai, India · Founded 2016
Suta makes sarees and blouses with an emphasis on handwoven textiles and contemporary styling. Founded by sisters Sujata and Taniya Biswas, it developed as an online-first business before expanding into physical retail. The founders describe a deliberately bootstrapped approach, financing growth through their savings and the business's own earnings.
Read profileTokyo, Japan · Founded 2019
Synflux develops Algorithmic Couture, a garment-design system that uses artificial intelligence and 3D simulation to cut fabric waste at the pattern-making stage. Its collaboration with Goldwin, called SYN-GRID, has brought the technology into products from brands including The North Face and Goldwin.
Read profileMumbai, India · Founded 2013
The Souled Store began with fan-merchandise apparel and expanded into casual clothing, sneakers, backpacks and accessories for children and adults. Pop-culture merchandise remains part of its identity alongside non-fandom products. It sells through its website, app, marketplaces and physical stores, and acquired fellow merchandise brand Redwolf in 2025.
Read profileOakland, United States · Founded 2012
Trove provides the technology and operations that let brands run their own resale businesses. Its services cover trade-ins, inventory processing, resale storefronts and programme management, helping retailers keep a direct relationship with second-hand shoppers instead of sending every used-product sale to independent resale marketplaces.
Read profileOakland, United States · Founded 2015
Unspun builds automated 3D weaving machines that turn yarn directly into garment shapes ready for sewing, instead of cutting every piece from rolls of fabric. Its system is aimed at brands and manufacturers that want more local, on-demand production, and the company has worked with partners including Walmart and Decathlon.
Read profileBengaluru, India · Founded 2022
Virgio sells contemporary clothing and repositioned its business from fast fashion toward circularity and sustainability in 2023. Founded by former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram, it uses technology in its fashion operations and promotes material reuse and recycling. The brand also provides garment-level information through digital tags.
Read profileTallinn, Estonia · Founded 2017
Yaga runs an online marketplace where people buy and sell second-hand fashion, with established operations in Estonia and South Africa. The platform combines escrow-protected payments with local delivery options, and its latest funding supports exploring further markets in Africa and the Middle East.
Read profile