Indian designers making themselves ‘louder’ – Kanika Goyal
Indian designers are moving beyond manufacturing and craft work for global brands and are increasingly presenting their own collections on the international stage, fashion designer Kanika Goyal told RT at the BRICS+ Fashion Summit in Moscow.
India has long been an important source of craftsmanship and production for the global fashion industry, with much of that work taking place behind the scenes. But a new generation of homegrown labels is increasingly creating the finished product and taking its own design identity overseas.
“We’ve always been on the back end of things and walking behind the scenes,” Goyal told RT, but said Indian designers are now emerging “in a much louder way,” drawing greater attention to where the craft and techniques behind their work originate. Emerging talent is increasingly “creating the final product” and “putting it on global stage,” she added, saying that “recognition really matters.”
The shift comes as India’s textile exports rose 16.1% year-on-year in August, with ready-made garment exports up 6.1%, according to the Ministry of Textiles.
The change goes beyond India. Designers from BRICS and other emerging markets are already building strong domestic businesses while reaching audiences outside their home countries. For Goyal, this is less a future Global South-led fashion revolution than a shift that is already underway.
Russia is among the markets Indian labels could explore more directly. Goyal’s brand previously supplied Russian stores through a Paris-based sales agency before 2022. Shipping, customs, and finding the right partners now influence how designers approach the market, but she sees greater business between the two countries as a possibility.
Goyal’s Arc Echo collection was showcased at Moscow Fashion Week on Sunday. The current edition, which runs through October 1, features more than 350 designers from over ten countries. In 2025, the Fashion Design Council of India presented CoEK-Khadi India and Samant Chauhan at the event, while Russian label Hatsibana later appeared at Lakme Fashion Week in New Delhi under an FDCI–Moscow Fashion Week exchange.
Stronger links between emerging markets could eventually allow designers and buyers to work with each other without routing business through established fashion centers such as Paris, Goyal told RT India. That will, however, require these countries to establish effective commercial structures that make shipping, buying and cross-border partnerships easier.
Social media is also weakening the traditional barriers to global visibility. Designers from smaller cities and countries can now put collections directly in front of international audiences and editors, giving them routes into the industry that previously depended much more heavily on established fashion capitals.
