India Winter Wear Market 2026: Market Size, Cold Spells, Knitwear Clusters and the Season’s Sales

India’s winter wear market is a short, high-stakes season. For a few weeks between Diwali and January, sweaters, jackets, thermals and shawls carry a large share of the year’s apparel sales and a larger share of its margin. Whether those weeks arrive on time depends on the weather, and for two winters running it has not cooperated. This report sets out what the evidence says about the size of the Indian winter wear market in 2026, how much of the apparel year depends on it, how cold spells and warm spells move sales, where the clothes are made, who sells them, how they are sold online, and where the wool comes from.

1. How big is India’s winter wear market?

The most widely quoted sizing comes from IMARC Group. Its current edition puts the India thermal and winter wear market at USD 13.5 Billion in 2025.^[16] IMARC expects it to reach USD 23.0 Billion by 2034, a growth rate (CAGR) of 6.10%.^[16] The earlier edition, as quoted by Mint, valued the market at $12.73 billion in 2024 and projected $22.64 billion by 2033, at a CAGR of 6.16%.^[1] The two editions agree on the shape: a market growing at about 6% a year, roughly in line with apparel as a whole.

Volumes give a second view. IndexBox, which tracks knitted outerwear such as jerseys, pullovers and cardigans, estimates that India consumed 764 million units in 2024, making it the world’s 3rd largest consumer market for these products.^[17] Only the United States (2.5 billion units) and China (1.9 billion units) consume more.^[17] Winter wear sits inside a much larger apparel market: CareEdge estimated Indian apparel at more than ₹ 9 trillion in FY25, of which 41% was organised, as reported by Mint.^[2]

2. Why one season carries the apparel year

Winter is short but heavy. Industry estimates cited by Mint suggest winter sales typically account for about 20% of the total annual sales for apparel companies.^[1] Crisil Ratings’ director told Mint that for most players winter is roughly a quarter of annual sales, typically in a 20-30% band depending on product mix and geography.^[1] For some retailers, Apparel Resources reports, it contributes up to 40% of yearly sales.^[5]

The season also pays better. Winter wear carries margins typically 300-400 basis points above regular apparel, according to industry estimates.^[1] That is because jackets and sweaters sell at a much higher average price than summer clothing, and because a cold December lets retailers sell at full price before the end-of-season sales begin.^[1][2]

Value chains in the north and east lean hardest on it. V-Mart said winter and pre-winter categories were about 40-45% of its sales mix in the October-December quarter of FY26, rising to over 60% in peak December weeks.^[2] V2 Retail said winterwear’s contribution rose from around 40% in the previous season to nearly 55% in 2025, and that the higher average selling price added nearly 5% to sales.^[1]

3. Weather is the demand switch

Because the season is short, a late or mild winter costs sales that are rarely recovered. Winter 2024-25 showed how. North India had its warmest November on record in 2023, with average temperatures exceeding 20 degrees Celsius for the first time since 1901, and the following November was warm again, delaying winter buying.^[3] Discounting was deep, starting at 30-35% and rising to 50-60% in many cases, according to the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India.^[1] Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail’s Q3 FY25 revenue grew just 3% to ₹ 4,167 crore, and it posted a ₹ 108 crore net loss, which it linked to markdowns and ageing winter stock.^[1] In Ludhiana, one hosiery worker told KNN that winter barely lasted 15 days.^[7]

Winter 2025-26 began with the opposite signal. An early chill linked to La Niña pushed consumers to buy sooner, and CMAI expected winterwear volumes to grow about 25% that season.^[1] The India Meteorological Department forecast more cold wave days than usual over Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and parts of central and north-east India.^[23] A cold wave day, by IMD’s definition, is one when a plains station falls to 10°C or less, or a hill station to 0°C or less.^[23] Ludhiana recorded its coldest average November minimum in 11 years, at 6.4 degrees Celsius.^[8] One manufacturer there expected the season to be about 30 percent better than the year before.^[8]

Then the north warmed again. By late December, daytime temperatures had not dropped enough to drive demand for cold-weather clothing, and winter season sales were declining by as much as 25% in some cases.^[5] IMD forecast no significant cold wave conditions for the week of 24th-31st December.^[5] Mint described it as the second straight year of muted winter sales for apparel retailers, particularly in north and west India.^[2] Its reporting cited a World Meteorological Organisation report showing 2025 was among the three warmest years on record.^[2]

The results split by region. V-Mart’s October-December revenue rose to ₹ 1,126.4 crore from ₹ 1,026.7 crore, growth of about 9.7% (derived), which its executives attributed mostly to wedding and festive clothing.^[2] Vishal Mega Mart grew about 17% to ₹ 3,670.4 crore, and said winter demand picked up significantly in January.^[2] V2 Retail, with a stronger presence in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam, grew revenue nearly 60% to ₹ 929.2 crore, led by jackets and sweaters.^[2] Retail consultant Devangshu Dutta told Mint that forecasting the season has become harder over the past 15-20 years as chains have scaled up and supply chains have lengthened.^[2]

4. North, east and south: where winter sells

Heavy winter wear is a northern and eastern business. Crisil’s director told Mint that a stronger winter swings quarterly performance most for retailers with heavy exposure to North and East India.^[1] In 2025, Cantabil reported early winterwear demand across Delhi NCR, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, while Bazaar Style Retail saw demand strengthen across the East and Northeast.^[1] The year before, the clothing retailer Madame described North Indian consumers as more fashion-forward buyers of winter wear, and reported some slowdown in east and west India.^[3]

The south has a shorter and lighter season, but it is not zero. When Hyderabad’s temperatures slipped into single digits in November 2025, seasonal woollen stalls at Chaderghat and Monda Market saw brisk business.^[6] The stalls open every October and trade for four months.^[6] Sweaters there sell for Rs 200 to Rs 1,000, with premium adult designs up to Rs 2,500, and traders said most of the garments are made in Ludhiana.^[6]

Online data shows the same tilt with a southern catch-up. Myntra says the North contributes the most demand for international brands on its platform while the South is growing fastest, and that sweatshirts are among the top-performing international-brand categories in non-metros.^[25] Nearly 45% of that demand now comes from non-metro markets.^[25] For how winter fits into regional clothing budgets more broadly, see our report on India clothing spending.

5. Ludhiana and Tiruppur: the knitwear clusters

India’s winter knitwear is made overwhelmingly in one city. Industry figures reported by Money9live say about 95% of India’s woollen and acrylic knitwear is made in Ludhiana.^[12] The same report says about 30% of output is exported, mostly to the United States, and 70% is sold across India.^[12] TV9 Bharatvarsh reports that the hub does about ₹15,000 crore of business a year, meets about 80% of India’s demand for woollens and exports about ₹200 crore.^[13] It counts about 14,000 units, with manufacturers earning only ₹10-₹15 a piece, and more than 70% of workers are migrants.^[13]

The cluster is under pressure from several sides. Ahead of the 2025 season, the Knitwear and Textile Club reported 15 to 20% more advance bookings than a year earlier.^[11] But its president said consumers were increasingly skipping sweaters for jackets, coats and thermal wear, hurting Ludhiana’s traditional product.^[11] The president of a Ludhiana traders’ association told The Times of India that Chinese products now hold more than 50 percent of the market across yarn, fabric and garments.^[10] Industrialists quoted by Money9live estimated that US tariffs could cost Punjab’s textile industry ₹8 thousand crore.^[12]

The government is backing exports. The Textiles Committee chose Ludhiana for a pilot Textile Export Facilitation Centre dedicated to wool, woollen and knitted articles.^[9] A Knitwear Club member told The Times of India that while summer garments dominate the city’s exports, winterwear has nearly three times more export potential.^[9]

Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu is the other knitwear capital, but it makes mostly cotton knits for export rather than winter wear. It accounted for nearly 60 per cent of India’s knitwear exports in FY26.^[14] Its FY26 total is reported two ways. Business Standard reports the Tiruppur Exporters Association’s record ₹46,000 crore, up 3 per cent from ₹44,747 crore.^[14] BusinessLine, citing the same association’s data, reports a fall of 4.92 per cent to ₹42,544 crore.^[15] The cluster aims for ₹1 trillion of exports by 2030 and a 50 per cent cotton, 50 per cent man-made fibre product mix.^[14]

6. Brands and listed players

Monte Carlo, also from Ludhiana, is the clearest listed winter wear brand. Its FY26 earnings presentation calls it a leading winterwear brand and reports operational revenue of INR 12,759 million (₹1,275.9 crore).^[18] Woollens were 27.7% of FY26 product sales and cotton 55.1%, with home textiles 10.2%, kids 5.9% and footwear 1.1%.^[18] On this report’s arithmetic that puts woollen sales at roughly ₹353 crore (derived).^[18] The company sells through 497 exclusive brand outlets and 1,615 multi-brand outlets, and its design team creates around 900 SKUs each month.^[18]

Its quarters show how seasonal the business is. Monte Carlo’s revenue for the October-December quarter rose 11 per cent to Rs 608.4 crore from Rs 548.8 crore, and net profit rose 12 per cent to Rs 106.8 crore, on demand in the peak winter season.^[19] That single quarter was about 47.7% of FY26 operational revenue (derived).^[19][18] In the January-March quarter, by contrast, woollens fell to 19.4% of sales.^[18]

Further down the supply chain, Ludhiana’s Madhur Knit Crafts, a maker of blankets, winter textiles, knitted fabrics and garments, raised ₹53 crore through an SME IPO on NSE Emerge, priced at ₹95-₹100 a share.^[21] The shares listed at ₹100.00 on 1 September 2026 and closed the first day at ₹95.00.^[22] Its draft prospectus shows total income rising from ₹10,840.57 lakh in FY24 to ₹17,176.06 lakh in FY25, and profit after tax from ₹170.43 lakh to ₹1,103.25 lakh.^[20]

7. The online winter sale calendar

Online, winter now has two big sale windows. The first is Black Friday, which brands increasingly use to push discounted inventory in the quiet weeks after Diwali and before winter sales start in late December.^[4] Tata CLiQ calls it its biggest annual sale event, with its daily run rate surging to 3-4x a regular day; winter wear is among the categories expected to drive Black Friday demand.^[4] Asked about Black Friday, Myntra told Mint it has seen a 25% year-on-year increase in demand, driven significantly by shoppers from tier 2 and 3 cities.^[4] A former Bestseller India chief executive estimates India now has close to 100 sale days a year.^[4]

The second is Myntra’s End of Reason Sale in December. The 23rd edition went live on 5th December 2025 with 6 million+ styles from 10,000+ brands, with winter apparel among the categories expected to see traction alongside wedding wear.^[24] Monte Carlo was among the brands Myntra expected to draw high demand.^[24] Myntra also reported ~80 million monthly active users at the peak of the 2025 festive season.^[25]

At the value end, Flipkart’s Shopsy said socks, caps and other winter-wear accessories were among its high-selling fashion lines during the 2025 festive season.^[26] Consumers aged 18-34 placed nearly 80% of its festive orders, and repeat customers rose to 90% of the total from a usual 86%.^[26] In 2024, retailers used mid-season and Black Friday sales to clear winter stock left over from the year before.^[3]

8. What people buy: jackets, thermals, shawls and velvet

Jackets over sweaters. Ludhiana manufacturers say buyers now go straight to jackets, coats and thermal wear, bypassing traditional sweaters.^[11] Even in Monte Carlo’s cotton segment, jackets, coats and suits were 18.8% of FY26 sales.^[18] When the cold did arrive in December 2025, Ludhiana retailers reported mid-range items such as thermals, woollen innerwear and socks selling briskly alongside jackets and pullovers.^[8]

Price bands. Most winter wear is bought at modest prices. Hyderabad’s stalls sell sweaters at Rs 200 to Rs 1,000.^[6] At the branded end, Crisil said the lower GST on synthetic fibre gives meaningful cost support, and that even price changes on winterwear above ₹ 2,500 keep the margin impact contained.^[1] Lower GST and better farm incomes were pulling buyers from unorganised to organised winter wear sellers in 2025, according to Avalon Consulting.^[1]

Shawls. Kashmir’s handmade shawls are a winter category with an export problem. J&K’s shawl and rumal exports dropped from Rs 477 crore to Rs 306 crore in 2024-25, part of a fall in the region’s handicraft exports to Rs 733 crore from Rs 1,162 crore.^[28] That is a decline of about 35.8% for shawls (derived).^[28]

Velvet and festive winter wear. The overlap of winter and the wedding season, which Crisil Ratings says amplifies demand, also moves occasion fabrics.^[1] Velvet is the clearest example: it is warm, it holds colour under evening light, and it is bought for weddings and parties rather than for commuting. There is no published Indian market size for velvet clothing. As a first-party observation, First Resort’s own Myntra listing data showed velvet’s share of clicks rising from roughly 2-4% in July to September 2026 to 5.1% in the week of 12 to 18 October 2026, and weekly add-to-carts on velvet rising from about 25 to 66 over the same comparison. Our silk and luxury fabric report sets out the wider velvet demand evidence, and our guide to wearing velvet in an Indian winter covers the styling. First Resort’s velvet collection, jackets and cashmere ponchos sit in this occasion-led corner of winter wear.

"In most of India winter is a few weeks of evenings, not months of snow. That is why velvet and a good cape work so hard: you are dressing for the wedding at night, not the weather all day."— Ramola Bachchan, Founder, First Resort

9. Winter wear moves into rental

For travellers from warm cities, renting is now an option. Inc42 reports that Mumbai’s Kosha rents winter wear from ₹990 for seven days, Bengaluru’s SharePal from as low as ₹50 per day, and Roamwear packages winter wear into a travel wardrobe rental for women.^[27] The comparison is the price of buying: Decathlon lists a snow jacket at ₹5,999 and a winter parka at ₹6,999.^[27]

The economics favour expensive, rarely used gear. One investor told Inc42 that rental typically prices at 10-20% of retail per rental period, so a ₹10,000 jacket at ₹1,490 a week is a clear saving.^[27] For a jacket selling at ₹3,299, the rental would be 45% of the purchase price, and most customers would buy instead.^[27] An Indiahikes comparison quoted by Inc42 put a six-day trekking kit at ₹2,435 to rent against ₹18,250 to buy.^[27] The demand driver is travel: India reported 32.71 Mn overseas departures in 2025.^[27] For packing for cold destinations, see our guide on how to style a cape.

10. Wool supply: a small clip and large imports

India has a large flock but a small wool clip. It has 74.26 million sheep, the 3rd largest population in the world, according to IBEF.^[29] Wool production in FY25 was 34.57 million kg, up 2.63%.^[29] Rajasthan produced 47.85% of it and Jammu and Kashmir 22.88%.^[29] Indigenous wool is mostly coarse, and much of what is used ends up in carpets rather than clothing.^[31][32] Carpets also dominate the export basket: handmade carpets were about 79.2% of wool-product exports in April-June 2026.^[29]

Apparel-grade wool is largely imported. Australian Wool Innovation reports that India’s raw wool imports reached 92.2 million kg in 2023-24, of which 18% came from Australia.^[30] On this report’s arithmetic, imports were about 2.7 times the domestic clip (derived).^[30][29] The Centre for Pastoralism says India’s wool requirements are met largely by imported wool, which has cut procurement from shepherds, despite India having 74 million sheep.^[32]

Exports of wool and woollen textiles were US$ 1.76 billion in FY26, down from US$ 1.83 billion in FY25.^[29] The woollen industry employs 12 lakh people in its organised sector and 20 lakh in sheep rearing.^[29] A revival effort around desi oon, indigenous wool, is trying to bring native fleece into fashion. The Hindu reports that India has 45 recognised native sheep breeds, and a Centre for Pastoralism wool lead told it that a vast bulk of India’s desi wool is discarded.^[31]

11. Outlook for winter 2026

The structural forecast is steady. IMARC expects the winter wear market to grow at a CAGR of 6.10% through 2034.^[16] AEPC’s chairman told BusinessLine that Tiruppur’s knitwear exports could grow 12-14 per cent in the current fiscal, after a 20 per cent rise in 2024-25 and a weak FY26.^[15] Ludhiana’s Knitwear Club sees nearly three times more export potential in winterwear than is being used.^[9]

The season itself is less predictable. After two erratic winters, retailers describe a shift toward lighter and trans-seasonal layers. In 2024 Madame added more light jackets for less intense cold days, and Ace Turtle’s chief executive argued that demand is moving toward lighter, versatile apparel rather than heavy winter wear.^[3] In 2025 V-Mart chose to protect margins rather than chase volume, and Vishal Mega Mart said delayed winters force promotions because unsold winter stock waits a full year.^[2] At First Resort, the early read for winter 2026 is occasion-led: the velvet interest described in section 8 arrived in October, before any cold.

12. Where this data is weakest

No official winter wear series. India publishes no government estimate of winter wear sales. Market sizes are from private research houses, and IMARC’s own editions differ by year and base.^[1][16]

Cluster figures are industry estimates. Ludhiana’s turnover, unit count and export share come from industry leaders quoted in the press. They do not agree: Money9live reports about 30% of output exported, while TV9 Bharatvarsh’s figures imply about 1.3% (derived).^[12][13] Tiruppur’s FY26 exports appear as ₹46,000 crore and as ₹42,544 crore in two reports of the same association’s data.^[14][15]

Wool counts differ. IBEF reports 34.57 million kg of wool in FY25, while the Centre for Pastoralism, quoted by The Hindu, estimates approximately 75 million kilos a year.^[29][31]

Regional splits are anecdotal. No source sizes the winter wear market by region. The north, east and south patterns in section 4 come from retailer commentary and local reporting, not from a regional dataset.

Velvet is first-party. The velvet figures in section 8 are First Resort’s own Myntra listing observations for a single brand, not a market measure.

13. Frequently Asked Questions

Related research: India Silk and Luxury Fabric Market 2026 · Festive and Occasion Wear in India 2026 · India Clothing Spending 2026