What the business is
Indian online fashion startup that began as a fast-fashion platform and moved to a circular, sustainable brand.
The bet
A circular, sustainable fashion brand can win Indian shoppers where a trend-chasing Shein-style model would not, funded by a three-year runway from its Series A.
How it started
Former Myntra CEO Amar Nagaram founded Virgio in 2022 as a platform for fast-fashion trends modelled on Shein, the Chinese platform India has since banned. It raised $37.8M from Prosus Ventures, Accel and Alpha Wave.
What happened
A few days before Inc42's 25 October 2023 report, Virgio pivoted from fast fashion to sustainable fashion. Nagaram said fast fashion is agile and trendy but drives over-production, over-consumption, harmful fabrics and exploited labour, and that the company would move all its effort to a circular fashion brand. Moneycontrol, via Inc42, then reported 20 layoffs, 33% of the workforce, mostly senior staff.
How it ended up
Four heads who had worked with Nagaram at Myntra left, and new heads of marketing, sourcing and design, tech and product joined from OnePlus, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, Flipkart, and CoinSwitch backgrounds. Virgio recognised it had made hiring mistakes and declined to comment. Nagaram said Series A funds remained, giving three years of runway.
What has to be true
Nagaram argued fast fashion promotes over-production and over-consumption, using harmful fabrics and exploiting labour to cut costs.
Virgio's original template, Shein, was already banned in India by the time the company pivoted.
A pivot to a circular brand required different sourcing, design, marketing and product skills than the fast-fashion team had.
A three-year runway from the Series A gave Virgio room to rebuild around the new model.
What can be applied
A pivot that swaps the product's whole premise usually forces a leadership reset too, so plan the team change with the strategy change.
Aftermath
As of 25 October 2023, Virgio was operating as a circular fashion company with a restructured leadership team and a workforce reduced by 20 people. It was recruiting to fill vacant positions. Inc42 reported no sales or user figures for the new model.
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