The boundaries between formalwear, business casual and athleisure have been dissolving for some time. Hybrid work, flexible offices, frequent business travel and increasingly fluid lifestyles have transformed not only where professionals work but also how they dress. Today’s executives often move seamlessly from boardrooms to airports, cafés to client meetings and dinner engagements—without returning home to change.
It is against this backdrop that Brazilian premium menswear brand Urban Performance has entered India, introducing what it describes as an entirely new category—Smartwear. Positioned between traditional tailoring and performance apparel, Smartwear combines the sophistication of premium menswear with the comfort, flexibility and functionality expected from technical clothing.
The brand has entered India through Confluxe, the technology-led omnichannel platform founded by former Myntra, AJIO and H&M executives Rajesh Narkar and Louis Coucke. The launch is also Confluxe’s first international brand partnership since the company raised US$1.6 million in pre-seed funding from Wavemaker Partners and Kriscore Capital earlier this year to build an operating platform that enables global fashion and lifestyle brands to enter and scale in India.
Introducing a New Menswear Category
Urban Performance is not merely launching another premium apparel label. It is attempting something far more ambitious—creating an entirely new category for the modern professional.
Launched in 2022 by Aramis Inc., one of Brazil’s leading menswear companies with nearly three decades of experience, the brand was born from a simple insight. Traditional formalwear often delivers elegance at the cost of comfort, while athleisure prioritises ease over sophistication. Urban Performance seeks to bridge this gap by combining advanced fabric engineering with contemporary tailoring.
Its Smartwear collection has been designed for what the company calls the “9 am to 9 pm life”—professionals whose workday extends well beyond office hours and whose wardrobes must perform across multiple settings.
For Richard Stad, Founder of Urban Performance and CEO of Aramis Inc., the objective is to create garments that transition effortlessly between work, travel and social occasions without compromising either comfort or appearance.
Why India Matters
Urban Performance’s decision to enter India so early in its international expansion reflects the country’s growing importance in the global premium fashion landscape.
India’s young professional workforce, expanding startup ecosystem, increasing business travel and rising disposable incomes are reshaping consumer expectations. Professionals are investing not only in premium brands but also in apparel that delivers performance alongside style.
Increasingly, India is becoming an early expansion market for international premium brands rather than a destination they enter after establishing themselves elsewhere. Urban Performance’s launch illustrates this changing perception.
For Confluxe, the partnership aligns perfectly with its larger ambition.
Rather than functioning as a conventional distributor or franchise operator, the Bengaluru-based company is positioning itself as a technology-enabled retail partner offering market-entry strategy, digital commerce, merchandising, supply-chain integration, data analytics and omnichannel execution. Its founders believe that while India’s premium consumer base has matured rapidly, global brands still face significant operational complexities when entering the country.
That gap, they believe, presents one of fashion retail’s most compelling opportunities.
Responding to a New Professional Lifestyle
According to Rajesh Narkar, Urban Performance addresses a gap that has long existed in India’s premium menswear market.
Professionals today routinely spend twelve or more hours outside their homes, moving between offices, airports, coworking spaces, client meetings and evening engagements. Yet wardrobes have largely remained divided between formal clothing that restricts movement and casual apparel that often lacks refinement.
Louis Coucke believes today’s workplace itself has evolved. The office is no longer a single location but wherever work happens—whether in a corporate headquarters, a café, an airport lounge or while travelling.
That changing reality is driving demand for clothing capable of adapting throughout the day without sacrificing either comfort or credibility.
If successful, Smartwear could evolve into the next major premium menswear category, much as athleisure transformed casual dressing over the past decade.
Performance Meets Premium Craftsmanship
The foundation of Urban Performance lies in material innovation.
Its collection combines Peruvian Pima cotton, silk-modal blends and bonded seamless construction with refined tailoring to create garments that promise breathability, flexibility, wrinkle resistance and unrestricted movement.
The objective is not to replace formalwear but to reinvent it for professionals whose lifestyles demand far greater versatility.
Increasingly, premium consumers are looking beyond labels alone. They expect apparel to deliver measurable performance benefits alongside aesthetics—a shift that has already transformed footwear, sportswear and travel gear. Urban Performance is betting that premium menswear is next.
The collection is currently available exclusively through the brand’s digital platform.
Beyond One Brand
Urban Performance’s arrival may represent only the beginning of Confluxe’s larger strategy.
When the company announced its launch earlier this year, the founders outlined a vision of becoming India’s preferred operating platform for international fashion and lifestyle brands.
Industry estimates cited by Confluxe suggest that international premium brands account for only about 12% of India’s fashion market, compared with nearly 30% in mature markets such as the United States, Europe and China.
Closing that gap represents a significant long-term opportunity—not only for global brands seeking Indian consumers but also for platforms capable of navigating the country’s diverse retail ecosystem.
The Bigger Opportunity
Urban Performance’s India debut is significant for reasons that extend beyond a single brand launch.
It signals the arrival of a business model where category creation becomes as important as brand building. Rather than competing solely within existing segments of formalwear or casualwear, Urban Performance is inviting consumers to embrace an entirely new way of thinking about professional dressing.
Success, therefore, will depend not merely on selling garments but on educating consumers about why Smartwear deserves its own place in the wardrobe.
Whether Smartwear ultimately becomes a mainstream category remains to be seen. But the timing appears favourable. India’s premium consumers are increasingly seeking functionality alongside fashion, international brands are entering the market earlier than ever before, and technology-enabled platforms like Confluxe are lowering the barriers to expansion.
If these trends continue to converge, Urban Performance’s launch could represent more than the arrival of another international menswear brand. It may well mark the beginning of a new chapter in India’s premium apparel market—one where clothing is designed not simply for occasions, but for the way modern professionals actually live.
