D2C brands in India are valued at $1.9 billion, accounting for around 1% of the domestic market for consumer products, home goods, and accessories. It is a home of 800+ successful brands.
Even though the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model has been present since 2015, it gained prominence during the 2020 pandemic.
Running a successful D2C business is not a far-fetched dream anymore. With the advancement of technology and the pool of information available online, starting a D2C brand in India is straightforward if done correctly.
Let’s get started.
Table Of Contents
1. Top 30 D2C Brands In India In Clothing
- 20Dresses
- Fully Filmy
- Bombay Shirt Company
- Let’s Dress Up
- Bewakoof
- Snitch
- FabAlley
- Wear Your Opinion
- Redwolf
- Blissclub
- Creatures Of Habit
- Urban Monkey India
- Mydesignation
- FableStreet
- DaMENSCH
- The Souled Store
- The Pant Project
- Super Bottoms
- Bombay Trooper
- Global Desi
- Wrogn
- Calenvie
- House of Chikankari
- Karagiri
- AmalaEarth
- Bambiha Clothing
- Zymrat
- Punjabi Adda
- BeYoung
- The Bear House
2. Top 20 D2C Brands In India In Home Decor
- Chumbak
- Alicia Souza
- Postermonk
- Bimba
- Mora Tara
- Baaya Design
- The Dècor Remedy
- Sage living
- PosterGully
- The Tallenge Store
- [email protected]
- Beco
- Freedom Tree
- Wooden Street
- Boingg
- Slate Hash
- Pepper Fry
- The Label Life
- Studio Artemist
- TerraVida
3. Top 20 D2C Brands In India In Accessories
- BoAt
- Coveritup
- Septemberish
- Travulls
- Scooboo
- Dailyobjects
- Starelabs
- Solethreads
- Neeman’s Shoes
- Flatheads
- Mangopeopleshop
- Everpret
- Minibay
- Noise
- Zouk
- Bluestone
- Melorra
- Caratlane
- Madras Merch Market
- Indigifts
4. Top 10 D2C Brands In India In Health & Wellness
Top 30 D2C Brands In India In Clothing
Fashion startups dominate the D2C market since the country’s fashion business has the most potential and is estimated to reach $43.2 billion by 2025.
1. 20Dresses
Started by Sumant Kasliwal in 2012, 20Dresses is a brand spinning on trends, celebrating fashion, empowerment and modern femininity through its designs. With over 150,000 subscribers, 20Dresses.com has established itself as the fastest-growing women’s fashion brand.
2. Fully Filmy
The name says it all – Fully Filmy. Movie-obsessed founders Raunaq Mangottil and Anand Srinivasan started their brand in 2015 and are one of the top clothing brands in India, selling online and owning offline stores in some states.
Fully Filmy is all about movies from Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood and Hollywood. You can shop by movies or their famous one-liners from a massive collection of products ranging from men’s and women’s clothing, accessories and home decor.
Bombay Shirt Company is an online apparel business founded in 2012 by Akshay Narvekar. The company provides customised clothing for both men and women. It now owns four brands: Bombay Shirt Company, cityof, Pause, and Korra. It has offices in India, Dubai, and New York.
Lightbox Venture Capital and private investors Amit and Arihant Patni are among its backers.
4. Let’s Dress Up
LetsDressUp, created by husband-wife Aditya Balani and Drishti Anand, is one of India’s Leading D2C Brands. Its service provides custom-made designer clothing delivered right to your home. It provides a platform where people can acquire dresses tailored to their size and style.
The company has generated almost 10,000 distinct designs since its beginnings. You may even personalise the outfits with your favourite character. It is also known as the Stitch Fix of India.
5. Bewakoof
Bewakoof is an online D2C fashion business that provides men’s and women’s mobile covers, clothes, and accessories. Bewakoof, founded in 2012 by Prabhkiran Singh and Siddharth Munit, has sold over 2 million goods with original and amusing designs!
The company’s odd yet accessible name has been widespread, particularly among those aged 16 to 34. Bewakoof used Justdial and Facebook to market their products in the beginning. Their page got 75,000+ users in just a few months. They also established college ads that promised free shirts from the brand
These brand operations give them a birds-eye perspective of everything, from design and merchandising to web marketing. They blend TV program punchlines and social media memes into their work to stay current. Furthermore, they invite suggestions from their 1.5 million social media followers.
6. Snitch
Siddharth D founded Snitch in 2018. SNITCH creates apparel for the fashion-forward modern guy, drawing influence from worldwide. As a men’s fast fashion business with a unique style approach, the brand produces styles in reaction to the newest trends.
What sets them apart: Their goal is to be the fastest fast-fashion brand for guys. Most manufacturers focus on seasonal collections. However, the SNITCH team creates new daily trends that customers can wear throughout the year. They consider fashion to be something that happens every day.
7. Faballey
According to Tofler, FabAlley declared a profit of INR 27.5 Cr in the fiscal year 2020-21, while its operating income was INR 105 Cr.
Shivani Poddar and Tanvi Malik started FabAlley 2012 as a High Street Essentials brand. It distributes women’s western clothing through online marketplaces, physical retail locations, multi-brand outlets (MBOs), and its website.
8. Wear Your Opinion
Wear Your Opinion is a site and platform where you can get beautiful apparels that will help you express yourself better, to help people express themselves. Each design represents something about personality qualities you can relate to or connect.
When you buy from them, they will not be your vendor but your buddy, and you will have an unbreakable link with them. Rajveen Khandelwal founded Wear Your Opinion in 2011.
9. Redwolf
Redwolf is an independent apparel business that curates beautiful artwork from artists worldwide and strives to manufacture the best t-shirts possible with every purchase.
They believe in excellent art and artists. The species and its mythology called Redwolf run in pairs and has a strong feeling of brotherhood and solidarity.
10. Blissclub
BlissClub is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) business providing women’s sportswear, such as bottoms, sports bras, shirts, tees, and co-ords. Blissclub has its headquarters located in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. BlissClub employs 120 people. BlissClub established the organisation in the year 2020 as a for-profit organisation.
11. Creatures Of Habit
Creatures of Habit is a contemporary collecting company that has managed a variety of high-quality essentials for everyday use. The business makes trendy wardrobes out of all-natural textiles. This D2C startup also provides high-quality Peruvian Pima cotton goods.
Pima Boxy Tee, Vintage Crew, Vintage V-Neck, Modal Crew, Modal Scoop Top, Rib Scoop Top, The Pima Scoop, Pima Long Sleeve Crew, Pima French Terry Sweatshirt, Rib V Neck Top, and many more are available from this startup. “Creatures of Habit” believes in “SIMPLE MADE BETTER.”
Shantum Gupta and Pallavi Desai founded the company in 2018.
Urban Monkey, founded in 2014 by Yash Gangwal, is a blend of high-quality items, one-of-a-kind designs, and a strong sense of community. They want to create a space where Alternate Artisans and athletes may coexist and share their tales, experiences, and abilities.
Furthermore, they are committed to advancing fashion by developing India’s Underground Street Culture.
13. Mydesignation
From God’s own country- Kerala, led by three cofounders, Swaroop Krishnan, Gopika B Raj and Haripriya Gopakuma, Mydesignation was started. They are a family of like-minded people passionate about design and entrepreneurship. Their designs are unique and cater to all kinds of people.
Their product category consists of apparel and accessories. They have their manufacturing unit, so they flaunt the quality of their products
14. FableStreet
FableStreet, an Indian clothing brand, provides trendy yet comfortable women’s clothes. Ayushi Gudwani founded the firm in 2016 to create a fashion brand that meets women’s needs for stylish yet comfortable workwear and everyday wear.
It has raised more than $3 million to date and an unknown amount of initial capital.
15. DaMENSCH
DaMENSCH is a men’s clothing business founded in 2018 by Anurag Saboo and Gaurav Pushkar that sells a variety of clothing designs such as odour-cancelling men’s knickers, polo-t-shirts, t-shirts, hoodies, joggers, tank tops and chino shorts, among others.
It secured $16.4 million in February 2022 from A91 Partners, Matrix Partners, Whiteboard Venture Partners, and Saama Capital. It has so far raised a total of $23.1 million from investors.
16. The Souled Store
Harsh, a junior college science student who went on to study law, did many internships in media and advertising and even took time off to learn to tattoo. The Souled Shop was created in 2013 by this new-age entrepreneur and three of his pals.
The Souled Store is India’s leading retailer of official, licensed merchandise, offering everything from t-shirts, backpacks and mobile covers to socks, pins, badges and much more.
They create stunning designs and print them on a wide range of equally stunning products. Souled Store develops and publishes these wacky products to spread happiness to the bottom of your soul. Thus, if you’re seeking fantastic products at even better prices, you’ve come to the correct spot!
17. The Pant Project
The Pant Project, a 2020 startup, is a one-of-a-kind E-Tailor. A D2C clothes company’s production method results in pricing comparable to off-the-shelf retail products. One will receive high-quality fabrics created by professional craftsmen and tailors at cheap costs!!.
Dhruv Toshniwal is the founder of The Pant Project.
18. Super Bottoms
Their story began when a mother searched for the perfect baby nappy and was dismayed to discover none. Following four years and 15 variations, superBottoms became India’s best-selling cloth diaper and a trusted brand for over 2 lakh parents.
They are a dedicated group that creates products with genuine love and no compromise.
Pallavi Utagi founded the company in the year 2015.
19. Bombay Trooper
Jaimin Shroff founded Bombay Trooper in 2013. Bombay Trooper is a simple T-Shirt company that bought innovation in print-on-demand printing processes to create original, distinctive, and revolutionary designs in clothing and accessories.
They began by experimenting with unusual rucksack designs. Bombay Trooper is the place to go if you enjoy wearing comfortable apparel.
20. Global Desi
Global Desi, started by Anita Dongre, is the finest fashion destination for modern women seeking wonderfully designed women’s apparel online. Today’s fashion is all about the beautiful mingling of many styles and civilisations.
This brand attempt to blend other cultures via colourful designs and colours in their women’s fashion wear so that customers may stay on trend. They present people with fusion fashion with women’s clothes in unique styles that give a lot of charm while allowing them to stand out.
21. Wrogn
Wrogn was co-created with Virat Kohli, India’s cricket hero and one of the world’s most recognisable athletes. Wrogn has become a staple in the wardrobes of young Indian guys because of its avant-garde youth fashion and razor-sharp attitude.
Universal Sportsbiz Pvt. Ltd. (USPL) has been shaking up the Indian fashion sector since 2015 with on-trend items, brilliant celebrity collaborations, and an accurate finger on the pulse of India’s young. It immediately made a name for itself and is now recognised as one of the category’s leading participants. Wrogn and Single are among the brands in USPL’s portfolio, headquartered in Bangalore.
22. Calenvie
Satavisha Chakrabarty, founder and illustrator, provides a diverse assortment of merchandise and apparel created with great thinking, imagination, art, and humour.
You can find T-shirts, Mobile Covers, Coasters, Posters, Stickers, and Notebooks in Calenvie’s online store. We can also create personalised stationery with your names and trademarks. If you want your company logo or a photo of yourself printed on t-shirts or any of these goods, we’re game! That’s true; any personalisation on any product on the site is available.
23. House of Chikankari
House of Chikankari was founded during the chaotic lockdown of 2020 to revitalise heritage crafts for future generations.
They are proud of their heritage and hope to create products allowing Indians worldwide to embrace their heritage. House of Chikankari strives to guarantee that all value the talent and experience of Indian artisans, legacy and artistry.
Cofounders Aakriti and Poonam Rawal achieved the most significant milestone in 2023 by sharing their journey in Shark Tank India Season 2.
24. Karagiri
Karagiri is known as “The Most Trusted Ethnic Brand In India”. Pallavi, an IIM Lucknow graduate, and Amol, an orthopaedic physician, opposed each other in their careers but amazingly synced in enthusiasm, and together they created Karagiri!
This brand connects people to their origins – India’s heritage, the most exquisite handcrafted handicrafts from all around India! Karagiri aims to bring the world closer to the true beauty of India.
They choose unique designs from artists and artisans throughout India and deliver them to our door, whether in Mumbai, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Dubai, or anywhere else!
25. AmalaEarth
Amala Earth is an Indian direct-to-consumer (D2C) lifestyle company changing how consumers purchase sustainable items. Amala. Earth, founded in 2020, sells a variety of things ranging from fashion to home décor to lifestyle staples. Their purpose is to make environmentally friendly products accessible and affordable to everyone.
26. Bambiha Clothing
They named Bambiha after the Punjabi word for a Jacobin Cuckoo, BAMBIHA. They produce unique designs and print them on a wide range of equally stunning products, including t-shirts, hoodies, crop hoodies, crop tops, sweatshirts, and many more! They develop and print their unique goods specifically to spread joy.
27. Zymrat
Zymrat is a sports clothing company that considerably influences the active lifestyle market. The business provides a diverse assortment of products, including t-shirts, shorts, and joggers, which are high quality and reasonably priced.
This brand strives to provide high-quality sportswear and personal care goods, spending three times the price on raw ingredients. Zymrat is one of the top sportswear companies in India because of its product quality, style, and durability.
Ujjawal Asthana and Ankita Riva founded the company in 2018.
28. Punjabi Adda
Punjabi Adda Clothing is a lifestyle fashion business that creates unique, innovative clothing for the stylish, modern Indian.
It was founded in 2018 by Dhanpreet Singh, a famous company with Inspired designs for Punjab. They offer t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, co-ords and more.
29. BeYoung
BeYoung was founded in 2017 by four creative minds to establish an e-commerce company that reflects the familiar Indian young people in fashion and accessories with distinctive and out-of-the-box designs and a fashionable product variety.
This brand concept symbolises today’s young individuals who believe in conveying their heart and mind via their choices. Beyoung’s success as a brand demonstrates the importance of being dynamic in your beliefs.
The BeYOUng People began in a small room with some creative individuals taking a leap of faith to create a brand that earns customers’ confidence with every product provided to them.
30. The Bear House
Harsh Somaiya established The Bear House in 2016. It combines comfort and style most stylishly. Discover the top polo t-shirts for men with a high level of comfort. Maintain a trendy appearance while using the most daring colour combinations. The Bear House offers brilliant colours, a great fit, and comfort.
Top 20 D2C Brands In India In Home Decor
1. Chumbak
Chumbak was started in 2010 by husband-and-wife team Vivek Prabhakar and Shubhra Chadda to develop a variety of fun souvenirs for India and Indians. Chumbak is one of India’s most promising lifestyle companies, offering an eclectic mix of trendy clothes, accessories, and home décor with a global design appeal to people worldwide.
The brand sells its products in two key categories: fashion and home. Products in the fashion area include garments, bags, footwear, wallets, watches, jewellery, etc. In contrast, developments in the home category include wall art, clocks, vases, décor items, bed linen, dining accessories, furniture, and so on. Chumbak also provides new styles, patterns, and goods every month.
2. Alicia Souza
Because of the bits of pleasant situations, humorous dialogues, and daily life observations that she sketches, Alicia Souza has been dubbed a “happiness illustrator.” Since then, she’s added it to her title since ‘commercial illustration’ seemed like a chore.
She’s been a professional artist for over a decade and has hundreds of products made from her designs. She owns a brand where she sells goods created in India with all the love and cares in the world!
3. Postermonk
Postermonk, founded by Sonu Rajbhar in 2019, is a website that sells a variety of posters and wall decorations. Posters, art prints, glass-framed posters, paintings, glass-framed photos, laptop skins, mouse pads, stickers, postcards, greeting cards, and coffee mugs are available.
They accept corporate and large-volume orders. The firm has sold its goods to Shop 101, Disrupt, Cult Fiction, ATS, and AlpenGlo.
4. Bimba
Riya and Rahul Soni started Bimba, pronounced as Bimbh, in 2020. The Bimba platform aims to make classical and fine arts more publicly available by bridging the gap between artists and end users.
The primary restriction of buyer-artist interaction/connection to art fairs, art galleries, and art exhibitions drives Bimba to make fine art more freely available. They collect art from India and across the world and create high-quality, museum-grade framed Fine Art prints in a variety of sizes to meet the needs of everyone.
They curate their collections with love, passion, and care, featuring everything from Pattachitra and Pichwai’s folk art to high-quality Fine Art prints by Van Gogh and Edvard Munch. At Bimba, artistic expression knows no limitations.
5. Mora Tara
Mora Taara has it all: wall décor, photo frames, evil eye charms, animal figurines, organisers, incense stick holders, table lamps, serving ware, and more. The concept that beauty is the default manner of existence influenced the brand.
Anu Kumar founded Mora Taara in 2005, named after her grandmother Tara. “Mora Taara” means “my star” in Hindi.
6. Baaya Design
Baaya Design, founded in 2009 by NID alumni Shibani Jain, aspires to conserve ancient art by making it relevant to current living via inventive designs. With a blend of ancient crafts, contemporary aesthetics, and modern utility, Baaya showcases a variety of home accessories and offers unique interior decorating solutions.
Expert artisans produce all its goods and tell the tale of a tradition passed down through centuries. Baaya provides traditional Indian artwork, trays, candle holders, coasters, lanterns, figurines, and other souvenirs.
7. The Dècor Remedy
This premium home dècor brand can beautify your environment with gorgeous statement pieces. Yet redecorating your house with The Dècor Remedy’s chic nesting tables, wall decor, organisers, candle stands, and more might be therapeutic.
8. Sage living
Keerthi Tummala founded Sage Living. Sage Living debuted in 2018 as a luxury furniture and home décor business with an unwavering focus on holistic design.
Sage, known for its excellent quality, artistry, and distinct design and style, has carved out a position by collaborating closely with Indian manufacturers and artisans to develop handcrafted products with worldwide design appeal.
9. PosterGully
PosterGully, India’s largest and oldest wall art business, was started in 2012. It sells hundreds of thousands of designs available in various sizes as unframed, framed, or canvas prints.
It is a rapidly expanding online platform supported by hundreds of artists and designers.
It enables people to contribute and commercialise creative designs for mobile accessories, home décor, furniture, apparel, stationery, bags, and so on to consumers in India and worldwide using self-serving automated technology.
It is entirely online, with millions of visitors and access to thousands of rare works of art. A TV personality owns a portion of a high-performance squad. In June 2015, well-known angel investors contributed more than $200K.
10. The Tallenge Store
The Tallenge Store is a prominent inexpensive art marketplace where thousands of art enthusiasts buy artwork from artists worldwide. They are revolutionising the art-buying experience by making it simple, convenient, and pleasant for the buyer.
They sell posters, canvas art prints, framed art prints, canvas art wraps, large size art, tabletop art, calendars, and other goods.
[email protected], founded in 2012 by Ankit Rungta, has grown to become a top brand in the home furnishing industry with stunning home furnishings and décor products. With inspiration and joy, their brand aims to turn its clients’ décor dreams into reality.
The firm primarily sells home furnishings such as bedsheets, curtains, towels, doormats, comforters, and a wide selection of home textiles.
12. Beco
Beco is a sustainable kitchen, home, and personal care business founded in 2019 by Aditya Ruia, Akshay Varma, and Anuj Ruia. Tissue rolls, bamboo face tissues, dishwashing soap, toothbrushes, and rubbish bags are among the biodegradable and combustible items available.
The firm raised $3 million in a Series A round-headed by Rukam Capital, with participation from Prashant Pittie, Titan Capital, Priyavrata Mafatlal, and Better Capital in September.
13. Freedom Tree
Latika Khosla founded Freedom Tree in the year 2002
Freedom Tree is a brand built with a sense of humour, no pretence, and a healthy dose of relevancy. They find fresh, cutting-edge concepts for you and transform your home and office with warmth and vitality, acting as “fingers on the design pulse.”
Their adorable and entertaining items promote freedom of speech, thinking, and being.
14. Wooden Street
Virendra Ranawat, Lokendra Singh Ranawat, Vikas Baheti, and Dinesh Pratap Singh founded the company in 2015
Wooden Street is an online furniture platform providing high-quality, customisable, ready-to-assemble furniture. This company specialises in creative multi-utility designs at reasonable prices.
This D2C company sells over 8000 products in-store and has 50,000 consumers. The company aims to change how consumers purchase home decor and furnishings. Wooden Street allows you to shop by room type, such as living room, bedroom, dining room, outdoor, home decor, modular furniture, work from home, etc.
15. Boingg
If you’re looking for the perfect furnishings for your child’s room, then boingg is the place to go. Boingg also sells goods for newborns, toddlers, children, and teenagers. The goods have distinct forms and colours—the brands in the following categories are related to Beds.
Storage, study, and decorative options are available. Boingg strives to provide children with the most incredible experience possible in their rooms.
Neha Indoria and Dhruvan Barar founded the company in 2017.
16. Slate Hash
Slate Hash was established in 2016 by Harsh Chudasama. Slate Hash offers a unique product that endures both in style and personality.
It is well-selected and developed entirely with creativity in mind. It all began with a basic concept and aim – to make high-quality, well-designed items people like buying.
Rather than following the “conventional” company startup process, we just sought to use common sense and research to sort problems out as they arose. They’ve discovered that practising is the most excellent way to learn.
17. Pepper Fry
Pepperfry is India’s largest and most well-known online furniture startup. It sells furniture, kitchen, bath, housing, and dining appliances. Now, the startup has over 3.5 million active users and over 5 million monthly visits.
This brand has over 20 studio sites in India and 500+ vans to transport furniture to customers’ homes.
18. The Label Life
While The Label Life is more renowned for its apparel and accessories, it also boasts an appealing home décor range. Sussane Khan produced thoughtful home items and presents, including lighting, wall hangings, photo frames, and planters.
19. Studio Artemist
Studio Artemist is an art studio that aims to make art inexpensive and accessible to everyone. Every place requires outstanding art to make it seem more personal. As a result, we provide a wide variety of art prints for every room in your home or business at reasonable costs while retaining excellent quality.
Our team digitally makes our artworks of visual artists and designers, spanning a wide range of art genres from which to pick. They are produced on high-quality art canvas or paper in various sizes to cater to large audiences.
20. TerraVida
TerraVida translates as “A Clay Life” in Portuguese. And it is what the brand’s local craftspeople appear to express with each product.
It is a Goa-based ceramic and pottery workshop, that creates home furnishings that are rustic yet contemporary and vivid, reflecting the colours of the tropics and Indo-Portuguese crafts. They sell mugs, vases, scented candles and more on their website.
Top 20 D2C Brands In India In Accessories
1. Boat
BOAT, The Young and Wild Explorers, provides an opportunity for Indians looking for economical, durable, and ultra-fashionable audio items to groove with. It’s YOU, every one of YOU! that BOAT has elevated the style with its BUNDLES OF JOY product Combos.
Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta are the Founders of Boat. After launching in 2013, BoAT has raised $176.0M in funding.
BOAT, which free-spirited Indians can claim as their own, has emerged as the world’s fifth-largest wearable brand. The remarkable rise of BOAT in the Indian Premier League drowned people’s lifestyles and charmed a tremendous pop culture.
2. Coveritup
Cover It Up was founded in 2013 by Ronak Sarda with a passion for creativity and a simple concept with great goals. Seeing the difficulty in obtaining luxury items in India, Cover It Up was founded to solve this for the better.
They began with phone covers, which remain their top category, and have now expanded into various other products.
The company’s objective is to invest exclusively in projects with a design and functional language.
3. Septemberish
Sidharth launched Septemberish in April of 2021. Its primary goal was to present consumers with new contemporary, and aesthetically pleasing designs.
When it comes to fashionable designs, Septemberish is setting the industry standard. Thirty thousand happy customers worldwide, and the number is rising. They offer notebooks, tote bags, merchandise etc.
4. Travulls
Amit Kumar, a travel enthusiast, started his brand with travel-inspired bottles and accessories. He then started offering merchandise in the same niche.
Amit’s product designs reflect his love and passion for travel. Are you a traveller? Here is everything you need to travel: passport covers, bottles, backpacks, mugs, badges and more.
5. Scooboo
‘Scooboo’ was born in 2016 due to a desire for unique and captivating stationery. While India is full of stationery fans, we discovered that only some were aware of the available yet functional stationery, art, and craft items.
We choose some of the most innovative stationery businesses from several worldwide stationery expos in Japan, Dubai, and Germany.
6. Dailyobjects
DailyObjects, founded in 2012, is a design-obsessed lifestyle accessories firm dedicated to making your everyday carry #lessordinary. You can expect a well-created assortment of items constructed from durable materials, with designs that stand out and make your life easier.
7. Starelabs
If you want high-quality accessories, Starelabs is one of India’s best places to buy. They offer leather, silicon, plastic, and carbon fibre casings. They come in effortless packaging, and most importantly, Starelabs is a reliable website; they have around 64K Instagram followers and consistently update their selection.
8. Solethreads
Solethreads was founded in 2018 to revolutionise the footwear business via comfort, creativity, and excellent design. The brand has successfully reached a consumer base of 500,000. It is India’s first and only product focusing on recycling and reuse activities.
This D2C brand’s unique selling point is that it handcrafts all its goods with cutting-edge designs. Solethreads has created a name for itself in the $1.2 billion market with its interests.
9. Neeman’s Shoes
Tarun Chabra, in 2017, started with the basic idea of creating shoes that seamlessly blend design and comfort; Neeman’s Shoes has broken the secret to pleasant footwear. Neeman’s creates footwear that is both comfortable and stylish, as well as eco-friendly!
The merino wool used to make their shoes is as soft and delicate as a feather. Furthermore, Neeman’s shoes are naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial, making them feel like a second skin. Neeman’s shoes have established their mark on the list of d2c brands in India due to the quality and service they give.
10. Flatheads
Flatheads recognised the needs of all humans, so they created a brand that was essential “comfort for feet.” Ganesh Balakrishnan, the founder of Flatheads, launched his brand in 2018.
It is a brand that will supply incredible comfy shoes. In addition, they have a wide variety of casual wear to office attire, allowing you pleasure at each step!
11. Mangopeopleshop
MangoPeopleShop was founded in January 2014 by Anannya Agrawal and Harsh Vardhan Gupta. Mystery creatures, cartoon characters, and pop culture inspired them. They wanted to make the world happier, particularly for young minds and millennials struggling with goals and looking for magical gifts and ideas daily.
Their product ranges from personalised mugs, wall decor, mobile accessories, toys and stationery.
12. Everpret
Everpret is a leading D2C brand in India. It creates and sells stylish handbags for working women. Yashas Alur, the founder, worked in a Bengaluru-based company before launching his own.
There, he spotted several female employees carrying many bags, which needed to be more comfortable and match their work clothes. Everpret developed the concept of revamping workbags to fit all requirements, So he resigned from his job and obtained Rs 8 lakh in finance for his project from his old employer.
Yashas founded the Everpret website in January 2018. They began selling designer bags for working ladies large enough to meet all their needs while complementing their work attire.
13. Minibay
A group of technology enthusiasts passionate about the things that revolve around it: in India, everyone needs help finding a suitable mobile phone case. To address the issue, Nitish and the team launched MiniBay.in.
14. Noise
Noise is a leading D2C brand in India since it was one of the first to introduce completely wireless earphones, the Noise SHOTS. Its headquarters are in Gurugram, Haryana, India. Amit Khatri and Joseph Levi founded Noise in 2018.
15. Zouk
Zouk is a 100% vegan and proudly Indian business that sells bags, wallets, and accessories. All items are handcrafted and pay homage to Indian culture. Zouk has 13 distinct bags, accessories, laptops, women’s office bags, handbags, wallets, and glasses cases categories.
It aspires to be India’s most recognisable worldwide consumer brand. It has garnered over 50k clients in the previous 6-7 months, making Zouk one of India’s top D2C brands.
Pradeep Krishnakumar and Disha Singh founded the company in 2016.
16. Bluestone
Bluestone, founded in 2011 by Gaurav Singh Kushwaha and Vidya Nataraj, provides over 8000 jewellery designs in rings, pendants, and other connected products. It sells its items through many channels.
17. Melorra
Melorra, a well-known D2C jewellery company, has headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Melorra has 231 employees and a $14 million revenue. Melorra, a privately held corporation, was established in 2015. Melorra’s Founder and CEO is Saroja Yeramilli.
18. Caratlane
CaratLane is a direct-to-consumer firm that sells a wide range of jewellery, including bracelets, pendants for children, and personalised jewellery. Its headquarters are in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. CaratLane, a privately held corporation, was established in 2008.
Mithun Sacheti and Srinivasa Gopalan founded CaratLane. Mithun Sacheti is the CEO of CaratLane.
19. Madras Merch Market
Madras Merch Market is an online store that offers fashionable and cool t-shirts, phone covers, notebooks, hoodies, pop grips and other products on its official website.
Started in 2019 by a college graduate, Shilpa Venkatesh, Mardas Merch Market is a homegrown brand in Chennai. You can find some great graphics printed on a variety of products.
20. Indigifts
Indigifts® is an indigenous D2C gifting business that curates timeless collections of love expressions with 30,000+ Gifts catering to all seasons, events, and relationships. They deliver it as 1M+ happiness boxes across India and beyond. In 2012, Amit Jain co-founded the firm with Divya Jain.
Top 10 D2C Brands In India In Health & Wellness
1. BoldFit
Boldfit is another well-known brand in the fitness market. Boldift is an Indian health and wellness brand dedicated to advancing the fitness sector. It has many supplements and nutritional items such as multivitamins, immune boosters, and other fitness equipment such as Yoga mats. Pallav Bihani established Boldfit in 2018 and made INR 25 crore in revenue in FY21.
2. Lenskart
Lenskart is a well-known direct-to-consumer (D2C) eyewear brand in India. Its headquarters are in New Delhi, India. They established it in 2010.
It was founded by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, and Sumeet Kapahi. It has almost 750 retail locations in over 175 cities. It promises to service over 7 million clients every year.
3. Cultsport
CultSport is an activewear company that provides trendy and comfortable clothing for those who lead active lives. To create a unique shopping experience, it focuses on product innovation, quality, and customer pleasure.
4. Wakefit
Wakefit, founded in 2016 by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, distributes a variety of sleep and home design items, including mattresses, pillows, bed frames, comforters, and back cushions. It sells these items on its website. It offers these items on its website and through online marketplaces.
The Bangalore-based firm manufactures its goods in Bengaluru, Jodhpur, and Delhi. Since its beginning, it claims to have serviced over 8 lakh consumers. It runs 22 experience stores throughout 22 Indian cities.
5. Mosaic Wellness
Mosaic Wellness, created in 2020 by Revant Bhate and Dhyanesh Shah, distributes health and wellness goods for men and women under the names Manmatters and Bodywise. Both brands include telemedicine services, drugs, vitamins, and other ancillary items.
The Mumbai-based D2C business has created a content community where individuals can discuss their health and other relevant topics. The firm then claimed to have a $14 million ARR and to service over 100,000 consumers every month.
6. Flexnext
Flexnest is a direct-to-consumer business that provides a complete training experience through their at-home workouts. Its headquarters are in Gurugram, Haryana, India. Rhea Singh Anand and Raunaq Singh Anand founded Flexnest in the year 2020.
7. Sleepycat
SleepyCat is one of India’s top D2C brands, founded by Kabir Siddiq. This 2017 startup has become the internet’s highest-rated mattress in India. The company believes in providing comfortable sleep to everyone.
Therefore, its bed contains a 1-inch gel-memory foam layer and a 5-inch durable high-density foundation foam layer that gives bounce and support. Besides the mattress, sleepy cat sells pillows, sheets, and other accessories.
In 1.3 years, it has sold over 10,000 beds. It is said to sell roughly 10,000 goods every month across all categories. Furthermore, the firm offers free delivery from the manufacturer to the customer’s home.
8. Sleepyhead
Sleepyhead is an innovative, attractive, luxurious mattress designed to accommodate 90 per cent of body types and sleeping positions. Due to the direct-to-home business strategy, customers benefit from a 60% reduced pricing than a standard mattress purchased from a retail store.
This brand offers everything from king-size mattresses and singles to queen-size mattresses, couch cum beds, and double-size mattresses.
9. Leaf Studios
Ayush Banka and Paras Batra formed Leaf Studios in 2017. After its inception, this headphone brand based in Delhi experienced a four-fold revenue increase.
Besides, the firm has also increased its portfolio by supplying sound-enhancing technologies, soundbars and other unique earbuds and headphones. Using the D2C approach, the Leaf brand has gained cost-effectiveness and a competitive edge over marketing and distribution channels.
10. Nua
Ravishankar Ramachandran, Projjol Banerjea, and Swathi Kulkarni established Nua in 2017 to provide simple, clean, and holistic care through a wellness platform with high-quality items. Nua delivers sanitary pads and other healthcare items to their customers’ homes at a preferred frequency.
Top 10 D2C Brands In India In Beauty and Cosmetics
Bombay Shaving Company is a well-known men’s grooming brand that follows the D2C business model. It is one of India’s major D2C brands.
It is the first personal care brand that meets all consumers’ needs worldwide. Shantanu Deshpande launched Bombay Shaving Company in 2016.
This brand has over 2 million users and a market value of roughly $3.4 billion.
2. Mama Earth
Mamaearth is a well-known brand with high levels of client involvement and loyalty. Mamaearth made appearances on all e-commerce websites, such as Amazon, Flipkart, Firstcry, and Nykaa, as consumers put up substantial efforts to meet personal care demands, resulting in the firm with significant lucrative transactions.
Ghazal Alagh and cofounder Varun Alagh created their dream brand, “Mamaearth”, in 2016. She founded the Mother Earth brand, which promotes healthy parenting and provides chemical-free products.
It has a large consumer base that appreciates its skincare products, so its revenue has more than tripled since the beginning of 2019.
3. The Moms Co
It is the most incredible personal healthcare brand for mothers. The Mothers Co. provides toxin-free personal care products, including mum, infant, and postnatal care. They sell their products in both physical and online stores.
And its primary source of money is straight from selling. The Mothers Co. is worth $6.5 billion on the open market.
4. Plum
Shankar Prasad founded Plum in 2013. Plum is a clean beauty omnichannel organic brand. Plum has made a lot of money since people started using the internet. Experts predict the brand will be worth around $23 billion by 2022.
Plum’s staff has grown to twice its original size, serving over 250 million monthly customers. The headquarters of the company are in Thane, Maharashtra, India. It is an entirely vegan brand.
5. JustHerbs
With simplicity and purity as their slogan, JustHerbs originates in Ayurveda, the ancient plant-based treatment systems, and all of their formulas adhere to the Ayurvedic Bhaishajyas.
Their quest began with Dr Neena Chopra, an award-winning biochemist, immersing herself in Ayurvedic books such as Bhavprakash and Charak Samhita and unravelling the parallels and differences between Western science and traditional Indian Ayurveda wisdom.
They represent three fundamental concepts that they think are lacking in the Indian beauty market: safety, honesty, and effectiveness. You may expect to see these three attributes on any product you buy from them. Arush Chopra is the founder of JustHerbs (founded in 2002).
6. RENÉE Cosmetics
RENÉE Cosmetics, an Indian makeup brand that redefines beauty with its cruelty-free, FDA-approved products, is timeless. RENÉE thinks women should embrace and cherish their strong, ambitious personalities while letting their glam speak for them.
They develop their goods to satisfy consumer wants and desires, to empower and inspire beauty with increased confidence. These fantastic qualities have propelled RENÉE Cosmetics to the top of India’s list of D2C brands.
Aashka Goradia Goble and Priyank Shah founded the company in 2019.
7. mCaffeine
Tarun Sharma, the CEO, came up with the idea of using green tea bags under his eyes to reduce puffiness, which led to the inception of mCaffeine. That’s when he realised caffeine combined with green tea is lethal.
Consequently, it is India’s first caffeinated personal care brand, offering millennials a diverse selection of Caffeinated goods. mCaffeine Beauty has no colour or gender because it is a 100% Vegan & Cruelty-free, Peta-certified business.
Tarun Sharma and Vikas Lachhwani founded mCaffine in 2015
8. Kama Ayurveda
Kama Ayurveda is a Leading D2C brand in India that has released nine ayurvedic therapies in collaboration with the 100-year-old Arya Vaidya Pharmacy in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
This brand developed ‘Les Jardins D’Inde,’ a very effective Ayurvedic-inspired collection of products ideal for various hair and skin types to complement these treatments.
All of Kama Ayurveda’s high-quality, elegantly packaged products are EU-certified and accessible globally, with a strong emphasis on the purity of ingredients and the efficacy of formulations.
Vivek Sahni launched Kama Ayurveda in 2002.
9. Sugar
As the name implies, SUGAR Cosmetics is a makeup and cosmetics company that has risen to become one of the top D2C businesses.
Vineeta Singh and Kaushik Mukherjee founded the company 2012 to give Indians cheap and complexion-friendly cosmetic products. These encompass skin care and makeup accessories such as brushes, beauty kits, miniature sets, and more.
All of their products are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and non-toxic. Their mission is to encourage women and celebrate all aspects of their lives. They specifically cater to every Indian skin tone.
10. The Man Company
Bhisham Bhateja and Hitesh Dhingra founded The Man Company in 2015.
The Man Company is one of the most popular places for guys to purchase grooming items such as shave gels, hair gel, face wash, shampoo, and body wash. It provides full-body grooming products in a variety of areas.
The leading company’s products are all chemical-free and created using essential oils. Anyone may purchase their items from their website, Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, and other online retailers.
Since its debut, this startup has revolutionised the standard of men’s grooming. You may also shop by series, such as Charcoal Series, Caffeine Series, Expert Series, Essencia Series, and Pro Hygiene Series.
Top 10 D2C Brands In India In Food & Beverages
1. Beyond Water
Shachi Singhania and Devang Singhania founded the company. Beyond Water is a firm that delivers Water but in a unique way. The Water is portable, affordable, handy, and personalised.
Beyond Water includes essential vitamin drops in four flavours: zesty orange, lemon mint, lemon iced tea, and mango peach. The brand provides a wide range of options. All of our products are sugar-free. A bottle of Beyond water has 24 servings. FLIP IT, SQUEEZE IT, and DRINK IT. That is how they create it.
2. Coolberg
Pankaj Aswani and Yashika Keswani founded Coolberg in 2016.
This brand offers beers known as Coolberg for all the non-alcoholics out there. They are well-known for their distinct flavour, miming the taste of an actual beer without the strain of a hangover!
There is more to the list. They offer an extensive menu that includes Pizza, Burgers, Sandwiches, Biryani, Momos, Pasta, and even Chole Bhature.
3. Biryani Blues
Biryani Blues is the place to go if you want to combine Arabic, Turkish, and Mughlai flavours. Biryani Blues, which began with the pedigree of Hyderabadi gastronomy, is connected with the aristocracy.
Besides biryanis, they also provide Nizami delicacies, which you may dine at their opulent restaurants or have delivered to your house.
In 2011, Raymond Andrews started Biryani Blues.
4. Skippi
Founded in 2020 by Ravi Kabra and Anuja Kabra, Skippi is a food and beverage brand that gained popularity with its ice pops. They strive to provide high-quality, clean, green, and nutritious products.
They design every product to eliminate the use of artificial flavours and colours. They take satisfaction in stating that they will only serve clients if they are confident in helping their children.
Its cutting-edge manufacturing facility adheres to strict quality and safety standards, ensuring that each batch of goods reflects its quality commitments and ideals.
5. Chaayos
Chaayos is a tea and packaged food company founded in 2012 by Nitin Saluja and Raghav Verma. It sells tea in its physical stores and other packaged foods through online marketplaces and physical locations.
6. Happilo
Happilo, founded in 2016 by Vikas Nahar, distributes a variety of nutritious snacks, including nuts, dried fruits, seeds, and dry roasted nibbles, through its online and offline storefronts. It also allows you to pay in instalments.
In February, Motilal Oswal Private Equity invested $25 million in the Bengaluru-based D2C brand. The firm then claimed to have grown four times in the past 24 months. It further stated that it hoped to generate INR 2,000 crore in income over the following four years.
7. Curefoods
Curefoods, founded in 2020 by Ankit Nagori, is a cloud kitchen aggregator that includes various businesses, including EatFit, Sharief Bhai, Aligarh House Biryani, and CakeZone. It oversees more than 150 cloud kitchens in 15 Indian cities.
Nora Fatehi, a Bollywood actress, recently invested in Curefoods and became the brand ambassador for its sub-brand CakeZone.
It purchased five D2C food companies in January and planned to buy 35 brands by the end of the year.
8. Country Delight
Country Delight lets you manage your daily milk subscription by delivering the most pasteurised milk to your home. Country Delight, a business, has been a group of Engineers and IIM Graduates who noticed the Indian liquid milk sector was devoid of innovation and used unscientific techniques for the previous 11 years.
Hence, among 13 different goods to pick from, the brand will allow you to get Milk, Bread, Eggs, Ghee, and other agricultural products according to your taste, health, and preferences. Furthermore, it draws customers by offering a 100% discount and a free self-test kit on their first buy.
9. Jimmys Cocktails
All the intricacy and balance of flavours at a local bar are available at the Jimmy’s Cocktails brand. They claim to provide the same quality cocktail experience to the comfort of your own home, removing the need for various ingredients, equipment, or expertise.
Ankur Bhatia founded Jimmys Cocktails in the year 2019 and has gained popularity.
10. Rage Coffee
Rage Coffee, founded in 2018 by Bharat Sethi, provides a variety of coffee-related items in India. They manufacture their products in a GMP facility and hold FDA, FSSAI, and ISO certifications for their goods. It claims to have 210k customers and has selected 85 product prototypes.
Virat Kohli, the Indian batsman, made an undisclosed investment in this Delhi-based food and beverage D2C firm in March. As reported last year, they had over 2500 touchpoints across India through a network of four CFAs and over 30 distributors.
FAQ
What are D2C brands?
Direct-to-consumer businesses in India have developed a new strategy for eCommerce success by bringing their products directly to their customers. Direct-to-consumer refers to brands selling now to their end customers rather than through a retailer, distributor, wholesaler, or other channels.
Most D2C businesses provide products in a specific niche (or category), creating the impression that they are a large brand, and they promote their products so that customers consider them high quality.
What should D2C brands mainly on?
With technological advancement and more brands launching every day, D2C brands need to focus on seven key areas to run a successful brand. They are
- Improved UI/UX – The intersection of design and technology. Interfaces that are cleaner and load faster across devices.
- Platform Upgrade – More willingness to invest in enterprise-grade Magento and Shopify platforms.
- Improved Coordination of Promotional Creatives (Banners / Emailers / Push Notifications) – More coordinated creative shot planning
- Conversion Rate Optimisation is a critical factor that many companies overlook.
- With Fast commerce spreading, firms will undoubtedly experiment with hyperlocal delivery in locations with storefronts.
- Increasing Marketing Automation Spending – Increased usage of solutions that can assist in tailoring the experience.
- Analytics – Increasingly, companies want to know how analytics can help them scale, but they need to figure out how to incorporate that power into their day-to-day operations.
What are the challenges faced by D2C brands?
The hurdles D2C firms experience during their early breakthrough phases can hamper e-commerce development, ranging from sales conversion to logistical delays. These are five obstacles that D2C business models face:
- Inventory management
- Customer retention
- Cost of acquisition
- Order fulfilment
- Shipping delays
What is the traditional business model?
The manufacturer/brand owner must go through a challenging cycle before the product reaches the buyer. The traditional approach to establishing a business was to create a product by producing it yourself or by outsourcing it and then packaging it.
Following that, you’d have to go through the classic “wholesaler-distributor-retailer” chain to get the goods to the end customer.
As part of their omnichannel strategy, firms may launch their storefronts through e-commerce, the export market, or independent retailers. The biggest issue with this technique is that it necessitates a significant cash expenditure, which small startups and organisations need help to afford.
Hence, a new business model has emerged to address this issue: direct-to-consumer.
What are the advantages of the D2C business model?
D2C brands have huge growth potential. With this in mind, sellers may include these elements in their businesses, providing the necessary push towards the D2C business model. Thus, below are the advantages of features that demonstrate the success of D2C brands.
- Broad audience – They get to serve the whole nation
- Set your margins – You decide your profit margins
- High standard customisations – You are your boss. The accurate business data is under your control.
- Quality Products – Maximum control over the quality of the products that you offer