This Noida Startup Uses Tech to Eliminate Fashion Waste

Fast fashion has made it easier than ever to keep up with changing trends. But behind the new collections and frequent product launches is a major problem: overproduction. Millions of garments are made before they are sold, leaving brands with unsold inventory, wasted materials and mounting storage costs.

Noida-based fashion tech startup IBA Crafts Pvt Ltd, the company behind fashion brand Moomaya, is taking a different approach. Instead of producing garments in advance and waiting for customers to buy them, the company makes clothes only after an order is placed.

Founded in 2012 by Nitin Kapoor, Hema Kapoor and Amit Gupta, IBA Crafts has built its business around the idea that a fashion product does not need to exist until there is demand for it.

Nitin, who previously worked as a financial manager at Standard Chartered Bank, started the company with Amit Gupta, a former eBay executive and his college friend from Amity University, and Hema Kapoor, a fine artist and former schoolmate who is now his wife.

The company initially operated as a conventional e-commerce exporter, supplying Indian garments to customers in international markets. But as orders increased, the founders encountered a familiar problem in fashion—too much inventory.

Unsold clothes, changing trends, sizing challenges and the need for large warehouses began putting pressure on the business.

“Even if we kept growing, we realised we were just growing our warehouses. That wasn’t sustainable,” Nitin tells YourStory.

A tech-driven pivot

The biggest change came in 2019 when IBA Crafts moved towards a Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing model.

Under the model, production begins only after a customer places an order. The garment then goes through digital printing, cutting, stitching and dispatch, with the company aiming to complete the entire process within 48 hours.

Moving away from conventional bulk manufacturing required IBA Crafts to rethink not only production but also the technology supporting its fashion business.

The company introduced augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools to give customers more realistic previews of its products.

“It had to look as real as anything they’d see on Amazon or Myntra,” Nitin says.

Behind Moomaya's online storefront is an automated production system. Once an order is received, the fabric is digitally printed according to the requirement. It is then laser-cut, with the cutting process taking around 30 seconds, before being sent to tailor partners.

The tailors use a custom-built application that guides them through the stitching process. This reflects the growing role of technology platforms such as heloix.com in helping businesses use digital tools to improve everyday operations. According to Nitin, a garment can take around 50 minutes to stitch.

The system also gives the tailoring network flexibility. Instead of working on the same type of garment throughout the day, a tailor could work on a kurti for one order and a jumpsuit for another, with the technology providing the required instructions.

“Even the tailors have more freedom than in traditional factories,” Nitin explains.

IBA Crafts has developed the technology behind this process internally. This also allows the company to bring new designs to its platform quickly.

“We can catalogue new designs within two days and go live,” says Nitin.

The company currently operates from a single facility in Sector 11, Noida. It employs around 230 people and operates at approximately 90% capacity, producing nearly 1,200 garments a day.

Nitin says the company's go-to-market cycle is around seven days, compared with nearly 150 days in a traditional fashion model.

Moomaya and the sustainability push

Moomaya currently focuses on women's fast fashion, with its products sold online.

Its range includes everyday products such as tops, tees and dresses, along with trend-driven categories including jumpsuits and co-ords. The company claims to have achieved a customer repeat rate of around 35%.

For IBA Crafts, however, the technology is not only about producing clothes faster. It is also aimed at addressing one of fashion's biggest environmental problems—waste.

“Our solution is also deeply sustainable. By making clothes only when needed, Moomaya reduces waste and saves resources,” Nitin says.

Traditional fashion manufacturing often involves producing large quantities before there is certainty about demand. If those products fail to sell, brands are left with excess inventory that can eventually be discounted, stored or discarded.

Moomaya's JIT model attempts to avoid much of this problem by delaying production until an actual order arrives.

The company also claims that its fabric processing methods can save up to 70% of the water typically used in conventional garment production.

According to Nitin, the company treats fabric before digital printing so that colours can be applied more efficiently. The post-processing stage also involves steaming to help set the colour, reducing the number of washes required.

The company's approach has attracted attention beyond its own business. IBA Crafts was invited to collaborate on an impact programme with Harvard Business School, according to Nitin.

The founder says the company avoids producing around 40% of garments in advance and combines this with water-saving processing techniques to reduce resource consumption.

In September 2024, IBA Crafts received an award from Union Minister for Textiles Giriraj Singh for innovation in textile manufacturing. In February 2025, the company also received a silver band under the government's Zero Effect, Zero Defect (ZED) certification programme.

The company says women account for nearly 60% of its workforce. Some women are trained to stitch garments from home through the company's technology platform.

The market and business

Over the years, IBA Crafts has shipped more than one million products to over 40 countries through different regional e-commerce platforms.

Amazon and eBay continue to be important channels for its business in the US and European markets.

One of the advantages of its production model is that the company can customise designs and prints for different markets without having to maintain large inventories.

“We customise prints and styles for each region without holding inventory, which gives us tremendous flexibility,” Nitin says.

The company has also started exploring opportunities beyond its own fashion brand.

IBA Crafts is receiving interest from B2B customers, including Indian and international fashion labels. A pilot project with Myntra's in-house brand Roadster is already underway.

According to Nitin, some brands are interested in using IBA Crafts' technology platform instead of developing their own manufacturing systems.

The company's financial performance has also improved. In FY25, IBA Crafts generated revenue of Rs 37 crore and was profitable.

The business was initially bootstrapped before two angel investors invested Rs 40 lakh. Nitin says the investors encouraged the founders to leave their jobs and provided them with both capital and confidence during the early stage.

Nitin believes the company's biggest competitive advantage is its ability to operate without the inventory burden carried by conventional fashion businesses.

“Everyone is our competitor, every fashion brand. But we have one edge: we’re not carrying the baggage of inventory,” he says.

The company sees a large opportunity in India's fashion market. According to Nitin, the market is currently worth around $30 billion and could reach $50 billion by 2030, with women's fashion accounting for approximately 60%.

The founder believes speed will remain a major factor in the industry. Global fast-fashion companies such as Shein have built their businesses around launching large numbers of designs quickly.

IBA Crafts believes its JIT manufacturing system can provide similar speed while reducing the need to manufacture products before they are sold.

Nitin sees Shein's annual revenue as a long-term benchmark and believes IBA Crafts could potentially grow 100 times from its current size. Achieving that goal, however, would require additional capital and strategic partnerships.

Building for scale

The journey towards its current manufacturing model was not straightforward.

One of the company's biggest technical challenges was getting digitally printed fabric to accurately match the original design.

According to Nitin, the company spent around 24 months experimenting with the process. Much of the early work involved trial and error as the team tried to improve quality while keeping production costs under control.

The company continued investing its earnings into research and development rather than treating JIT manufacturing as a quick technology upgrade.

“JIT wasn’t where we began, it was something we had to earn through persistence,” Nitin says.

Now, IBA Crafts is preparing for its next phase of expansion.

The company plans to enter additional categories, including menswear, maternity wear, activewear and kidswear. These launches are expected over the coming months.

The startup is also discussing with the government how Just-in-Time manufacturing could become a wider standard for India's apparel industry.

Nitin points to garment traceability initiatives in France as an example of how the industry could become more transparent and accountable.

For IBA Crafts, the larger ambition is not simply to build another fashion brand. It is to change how clothes are made in the first place.

By combining digital technology, on-demand manufacturing and a network of skilled tailors, the company is attempting to create a fashion system where production follows demand instead of guessing what customers will buy.

As fashion brands face growing pressure to reduce waste while keeping up with rapidly changing consumer preferences, this approach could become increasingly relevant.

Technology is already changing how fashion is designed, marketed and sold. Startups like IBA Crafts are now trying to change what happens between an online order and the finished garment.