An article by McKinsey, ‘What is fast fashion?’ explores the transformational nature of the fast fashion industry. The article sheds light on its environmental and ethical downsides, whilst also acknowledging its business appeal.

It highlights a critical gap between action and intention of consumers. 46 percent of UK shoppers say they avoid buying fast fashion, but more than half made a purchase at a fast fashion retailer in the past year.

This candid conversation between Sajith Pai, one of my favourite investors and writers, and Romita Mazumdar, CEO and Founder of Foxtale dives into what it takes to build a beauty brand. The discussion highlights the importance of listening to customers, refining products based on feedback, and maintaining strong unit economics while growing.

One of the most interesting takeaways is how Foxtale’s growth wasn’t purely influencer-driven. In today’s beauty landscape, it’s easy to assume that a brand needs flashy endorsements to succeed, but Romita proved that a great product can create its own buzz.

This article is a must-read for anyone who thinks building a beauty brand is just about viral moments—because Foxtale’s story proves it’s about so much more.

A paper published at the Center for Study and Research in Intellectual Property Rights sheds light on the lack of strong intellectual property rights in India’s fashion industry, which is a big challenge for both new and well-known designers. Without proper legal protection, copying and counterfeiting attempts are common, making it harder for designers to succeed. Big fashion brands can easily take ideas from independent designers without facing any consequences, which is unfair. This not only hurts small designers financially but also discourages creativity because there’s no guarantee that their work will remain theirs. As Indian fashion gains more global recognition, this paper talks about the importance to strengthen IP laws to protect original designs and encourage innovation.

This article by Graham Duncan felt like a pause button in a world that’s always on fast-forward, offering a rare blend of wisdom and practicality that made me rethink what it means to build something meaningful. Definitely give it read - even if you’re building something very different from an investment platform!

This report by Fashion for Good highlights the scope for innovative textile sorting technologies and systems to enable efficient recycling and reuse of materials. An astonishing and rather unfortunate statistic that I read in this report is that 41% of the global textile waste that makes its way to India is downcycled (19%), incinerated (5%) or ends up in a landfill (17%).

The opportunity here is vast, and startups such as Amberycle and Circ are making their mark on the global scale. In India, large textile recycling hubs such as Panipat and Tirupur remain dominant but their practices are far from innovative.