A kurta is a loose, collarless or band-collared tunic worn by men and women across South Asia, and ethnic wear is the trade term for the wider family of garments around it: kurtis, salwar and churidar suits, palazzo sets, lehengas, sherwanis, sarees and dupattas. The overseas buyers for these garments are mainly retailers and online sellers serving the South Asian diaspora in the Gulf, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and parts of Africa, with demand peaking around festivals and the wedding season. It is a large, repeat market with its own calendar and its own rules on fit and fabric.
The main product groups
- Men's kurtas and kurta pyjama sets in cotton, linen blends and silk blends, from plain daily wear to embroidered festive pieces.
- Women's kurtis and tunics, often sold with matching trousers or palazzos, in printed, embroidered or hand-block-printed cotton and rayon.
- Salwar kameez and churidar suits, sold stitched or as unstitched fabric sets.
- Lehengas, anarkalis and sherwanis for weddings and festivals, with heavy embroidery and embellishment.
- Sarees and dupattas, which are fabric lengths rather than sewn garments and are often classified differently at customs.
Who buys and when
Diaspora retailers run from small independent shops to multi-store chains, and most of them now sell online as well. Marketplace sellers in the US, the UK and the Gulf buy smaller, faster-moving assortments and reorder frequently. A smaller but growing group of mainstream fashion buyers take kurta-style tunics and block prints into their own ranges, usually in lighter fabrics and Western sizing.
The calendar drives everything. Eid is the main peak in the Gulf and in Muslim communities worldwide, Diwali and the surrounding festival season is the main peak for Hindu and wider Indian communities, and the wedding season runs through the cooler months. Retailers typically place orders two to four months before each peak, so production in Indian factories is heavily loaded in the run-up and quieter in between.
What to watch when sourcing
Sizing is the first issue. Diaspora customers in the UK, US and Canada often need a wider size range and a different fit from the domestic Indian market, so a spec sheet with your own measurements is essential rather than relying on the factory's standard sizes.
Fabrics and finishes matter more than in basics. Hand-block printing, embroidery and natural dyes vary from piece to piece, and the buyer and factory need to agree how much variation is acceptable and seal samples at the limits. Colour fastness is a common complaint, and a wash test before bulk is worth the cost on any dark or printed style.
Ahmedabad and Surat are strong sources for printed cotton and rayon ethnic wear and for the synthetic fabrics woven in Surat that go into sarees and festive garments, with shipment usually through Mundra, Hazira or Pipavav. Lead times stretch before the peaks, so an order placed late is often an order delivered after the festival.
How Creston & Co helps
We visit and audit ethnic wear factories, seal samples including the limits of acceptable variation for hand work, inspect inline and at final, and supervise loading before the festival deadline. We usually set up one approved supplier and one backup so that a peak-season slot is never lost. A free 20-minute sourcing review is a good first step if you are planning a festival range.