In an industry long defined by overproduction and slow, waste-heavy supply chains, VIRGIO is attempting something few Indian fashion brands have engineered—speed with accountability. Reporting 200 percent quarter-on-quarter growth, the fashion-tech brand is challenging the assumed trade-off between fast fashion and sustainability by rebuilding the backend of fashion itself.
Co-founded by Amar Nagaram, Founder & CEO, whose leadership spans nearly a decade at Myntra, VIRGIO is rethinking how fashion can scale with purpose. From AI-led trend forecasting and 21-day design-to-launch cycles to real-time replenishment, modular manufacturing, and Digital Product Passports (DPPs), the brand’s operations are designed to respond precisely to demand rather than produce in excess.
What began as a digital-first brand has evolved into a growing omnichannel retailer. VIRGIO is currently available on Myntra, Nykaa Fashion, and AJIO, alongside offline stores across Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai, and Delhi NCR. As the brand scales across India and expands internationally—actively operating in the UAE, the US, and Nepal through Bhat Bhateni, the country’s largest retail chain—its operating model offers a glimpse into what the next generation of sustainable fashion retail could look like.
In this conversation, Amit Mathur, COO, VIRGIO, breaks down the systems driving the brand’s rapid scale and explains why the future of sustainable fashion will be determined not by storytelling, but by how intelligently supply chains are engineered.
Excerpts from the chat…
On Scaling 200% QoQ
Our growth is rooted in precision and speed. We moved to seasonal, sustainability-led collections, which gave us tighter demand planning, stronger fabric consistency, and reduced inefficiencies.
A real-time replenishment engine identifies top-performing styles in the first week and enables rapid restocks. We also redesigned our fulfillment network to ensure faster shipping, reducing cancellations and boosting repeat purchases. Together, product discipline, responsive supply, and delivery speed form the backbone of our scale.
On rewriting operational playbooks for sustainable fast fashion
At VIRGIO, we operate with seasonal, trend-led collections where every fabric meets our sustainability framework. Instead of producing at scale upfront, we work in small, agile batches with the ability to replenish instantly when demand rises.
Real-time forecasting allows us to produce closer to actual demand, while modular manufacturing lines enable rapid style switches without generating waste. A lean, low-inventory retail model supported by fast backfills keeps risk contained. Every garment carries a Digital Product Passport, bringing transparency to materials and environmental impact. This structure allows us to stay fast, relevant, and accountable.
On leveraging technology to build supply chain agility
Technology sits at the core of our operations. Our systems track emerging trends and early sell-through in real time, allowing us to identify what customers are responding to quickly. This data flows directly into production planning, enabling smaller, smarter buys and replenishment only where demand is proven.
Tech-enabled routing and real-time inventory visibility across fulfilment nodes also help us deliver faster. In effect, technology has turned our supply chain into a demand-led engine that responds in days, not months.
On AI, digital sampling, and smart manufacturing
At VIRGIO, AI accelerates the trend cycle, but our strength lies in combining technology with human intelligence. Our AI-led trend engine scans large volumes of data to predict demand, after which our design team creates digital samples to visualise fits, prints and silhouettes.
These are then converted into prototype samples for technical validation and shoot samples for content and retail readiness. This layered process reduces rework and ensures manufacturing partners receive precise requirements.
On the production floor, modular and digitally connected lines allow us to run micro-batches efficiently and replenish only when demand is established. Human intelligence plays a critical role in interpreting AI signals contextually, helping us deliver trend-responsive collections in as little as 21 days.
On the Digital Product Passport
The Digital Product Passport has fundamentally changed how we operate because it forces transparency into every stage of the product lifecycle – internally and externally. For customers, it puts all the information at their fingertips: the fabric composition, cost breakdown, carbon footprint, and even the water and energy used in production.
Operationally, the impact is even deeper. Each garment carries a unique QR identity, allowing us to track purchase timing, scan frequency, and post-purchase engagement. This gives us early insight into longevity, quality perception, and cost-per-wear behaviour.
Customer response has been strongly positive – transparency has increased trust and purchase confidence. Internally, the DPP acts as a discipline mechanism, aligning teams toward better material choices, production decisions, and accountability.
On cross-border expansion sustainably
Our cross-border expansion is built on cultural nuance and operational discipline. We’ve learned that styles, fits, colours, and modesty preferences differ by region, so our assortments are shaped by sensing demand rather than assumptions.
To avoid overproduction, we operate from a unified global inventory pool, fulfilling orders either from our UAE centres or directly from India, instead of fragmenting stock across markets. A consistent fabric-first sustainability framework, ethical manufacturing standards, and tech-enabled visibility ensure we scale without compromising our values.
Global growth, for us, isn’t about making more – it’s about making smarter decisions.
On building customer retention
With over 1 lakh customers and a 500,000-strong community today, our biggest operational insight has been that retention in fashion is fundamentally a product-and-fit problem, not a discount problem.
Indian bodies don’t conform to the standard global fit blocks, so we rebuilt our sizing and grading systems to reflect real Indian proportions. That single shift reduced returns and significantly improved repeat behaviour.
The second insight is that customers come back when they trust the fabric ecosystem of a brand. Once shoppers experience our sustainable, high-quality materials, they actively look forward to new seasonal drops because they already know the comfort, longevity, and performance they can expect.
Finally, our ability to launch trend-right collections quickly ensures novelty without compromising consistency.
On building omnichannel consistency
With stores now across Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Navi Mumbai and Delhi NCR, our approach is to offer a consistent experience across channels. Collections typically launch online and offline together, but stores operate with leaner inventories to avoid waste.
When we see traction – through sell-through data, trials or local feedback – we quickly replenish the right stores using our fast backfill system. Real-time inventory visibility allows customers to locate sizes across channels, while store-assisted online fulfilment ensures quick deliveries. This integration of data, inventory and fulfilment keeps the omnichannel experience seamless and efficient.
On how the fashion industry will change in the next 3–5 years
As sustainability moves from a niche to a baseline expectation, Indian fashion brands will need to rewire their operations far more fundamentally than they realise. The biggest shift would be building strong signals for trends and demand.
Creating smaller batches, faster replenishments, and fewer long bets that lead to overproduction. Equally urgent is the need to build transparent supply chains, with traceability of fabrics, dyes, and processes becoming a hygiene factor for customers.
And finally, investing in better fits for Indian bodies, along with fabrics that prioritise comfort, longevity, and low environmental impact, will become non-negotiable. The brands that succeed will be the ones that redesign their backend for agility, accuracy, and accountability not just the ones that market sustainability, but the ones that operationalise it.
On VIRGIO’s next phase of growth
Looking ahead, our next phase of growth will be driven by deeper investments in technology and operational excellence. We’re focused on strengthening our backend workflows – everything from smarter demand prediction to tighter digital integration across design, merchandising, and manufacturing.
A major priority is expanding the number of styles we can expose to customers without producing them in bulk, using faster sampling and demand-led manufacturing to stay trend-forward while remaining low-waste.
Ultimately, every decision ladders up to a single ambition: to make VIRGIO one of the top three brands customers think of when they shop for fashion – loved for its relevance, trusted for its quality, and chosen for its sustainable backbone.
On retail expansion plans
We’re in an aggressive but disciplined phase of retail expansion. In India, we plan to open over 10 new stores in the coming months, deepening our presence in metros as well as high-potential Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.
Internationally, our approach is more sequenced – we first build a strong digital footprint in a market, understand what styles and fits resonate locally, and only then evaluate offline retail formats. Whether domestic or international, our strategy is the same: expand where our community is already strong.
