Cheap and chic in India

I read management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company's State of Fashion report year after year. They get many things right, as consultancy firms are experts at reading numbers and stating the obvious. Their ground-level surveys-oh, they're another matter altogether.

- NAMRATA ZAKARIA

I have yet to find a consultancy that has made accurate predictions about India at least. I have been writing on retail and the business of fashion and apparel in India for almost 25 years. And there's nothing a consultancy firm can tell you which hanging around malls cannot. I'm always reminded of the magical year 2015, when every consultancy firm had predicted India would be a major luxury powerhouse market for European labels. Our sweet middle class and burgeoning startup set sweetly smiled and said, "Gee, thanks, we'll build our own luxury brands instead." And so we did.