A Bandra studio, a Thursday evening. A friend opens three Myntra parcels on the floor. Same waist, three brands. One fits. One is a tent. One won't button. He sends two back, keeps one, and tells me he's done buying shirts online. He'll be back next week.
This is the Indian D2C buyer in 2026. Trained by free returns, burnt by fit, suspicious of the next launch, and still scrolling. About 25 to 40 percent of clothes sold online in India are returned, which Rest of World reports is roughly a third higher than the comparable US apparel return rate. Myntra alone runs a 12 to 14 percent product return rate, with another 10 to 12 percent flagged as return to origin. The reason, over and over, is fit.
The category has more brands than ever. Snitch, Bewakoof, Bombay Shirt Company, Mufti, Andamen, The Pant Project, plus a hundred smaller names that ran a Meta ad last week. The buyer's question has shifted. It's no longer "what should I buy". It's "who can I trust to send me a shirt that fits". This is a framework for that.
:::stat-strip - 25 to 40% / Apparel return rate in India - 53% / Of global apparel returns driven by fit - 25,000+ / Indians scanned by NIFT for INDIAsize - 12 to 14% / Myntra's product return rate :::
Why "how to choose a menswear brand" matters now
A decade ago the answer was the mall. You walked into Shoppers Stop, tried five shirts, kept the one that fit, and left. The brand was a label, not a relationship. Now the brand is your Instagram feed. You see the launch, you see the model, you see the price. You do not see the seam, the GSM, or the cut on a 5'8" frame.
Industry data suggests fit issues account for around 53 percent of apparel returns globally, and that around 40 percent of all clothes purchased online are returned specifically due to sizing. This is the gap between a launch reel and your front door. The brand that closes it earns you. The brand that doesn't, costs you a Sunday.
Criterion 1, Fit philosophy
The first thing to check on any product page is what the brand says about how the garment is meant to sit on you.
Bad signal: a size chart with S, M, L, XL, chest measurement only, no fit description.
Good signal: a paragraph that says "slim through the chest, tapered at the waist, sits 2 cm above the wrist on a 5'10" frame, 175 GSM, will skim not cling". One short paragraph tells you the brand has thought about a human inside the cloth.
Better signal: a photo on a real model with a stated height and size, plus a second photo on a different body type. Or a video. Or a sentence that says "if you're between sizes, size up for boxy fit, size down for tapered".
If a product page has none of this, the brand is selling you a number, not a fit.
Criterion 2, Frame and pattern
Indian menswear has spent two decades buying patterns drafted in Manchester and Milan. The shoulder slopes, the chest curves, the rise on the trouser, all of it was cut for a Western body the brand never met.
NIFT's INDIAsize programme gathered anthropometric data from more than 25,000 Indians across six cities using 3D body scanning, because Western, UK and US sizing standards do not fit the Indian body. The NIFT Director General has said the goal is straightforward: clothes tailored using a size chart developed for the Indian body will make Indians look and feel better.
Ask the brand: do you draft on an Indian fit model. Where. What height, what build. A brand that uses a 6'1" Slavic fit model in a Tirupur factory is selling you a translation, not a fit. A brand that drafts on a 5'9" Delhi model, then tests on a 5'7" Bengaluru body and a 5'10" Mumbai body, is doing the actual work. See shirts cut for the Indian frame for what that looks like in practice.
:::pull-quote Clothes that are tailored following a size chart specially developed for the Indian body size and shape will make Indians look more beautiful and feel more confident. NIFT Director General, on INDIAsize :::
Criterion 3, Fabric transparency
The single most useful number on a product page in Indian menswear is GSM. Grams per square metre. It tells you the weight of the fabric, which tells you the drape, the opacity, and how it will behave through a Delhi summer or a Mumbai monsoon.
A 110 GSM cotton voile is a July shirt. A 175 GSM oxford is an all year office shirt. A 240 GSM twill is a Pune November shirt. Without the number, "100 percent cotton" tells you almost nothing.
A brand that lists GSM, weave (poplin, oxford, twill, dobby), country of origin of the cloth, and care instructions is showing you its homework. A brand that says "premium cotton fabric" and stops is hiding something or doesn't know.
This is about to matter more. India is preparing to implement new mandatory labelling rules requiring apparel manufacturers to disclose fibre content, country of origin, and detailed care instructions. The brands that already do this will be untouched. The ones that don't will have to learn fast.
Criterion 4, Climate intelligence
Indian summer is not American summer. AC offices set to 19 C, the kerb at 33 C, the metro at 28 C, a Gurgaon expressway at 8pm at 30 C with dust. Your shirt will be tested four times a day.
Cotton has limits. As one Indian uniform manufacturer notes plainly, pure cotton wrinkles easily, shrinks after washing, and takes longer to dry. For a Mumbai July with 89 percent humidity, that matters.
A climate aware brand will name the fabric blend, explain the finish (silicone soft, anti microbial, wrinkle resistant), and tell you the use case. "This is a 130 GSM cotton linen, structured enough for a meeting, breathable enough for an outdoor lunch in May." A brand that sells the same fabric for Bangalore and Bhopal is not paying attention.
Criterion 5, Returns and exchanges
Read the returns page before you read the product page. It tells you who you are dealing with.
Things to look for: - A real exchange window of at least 7 days, ideally 15 - Free reverse pickup, not "we deduct shipping" - Refund timeline stated in days, not "as per policy" - A size exchange that doesn't restart the return clock - A phone number or WhatsApp that an actual human answers
If the returns page is one sentence on a footer link, the brand is hoping you don't read it. Around 42 percent of all ecommerce returns are due to the product being too small or too large. A brand that makes returns hard is asking you to subsidise its fit problem.
Criterion 6, Voice and accountability
Open the About page. Is there a founder. Is there a city. Is there a face.
A brand that lists a founder, the city of operations, the factory partners, and a real customer support address is putting its name to the product. A brand whose About page is three lines of "we believe in quality" and a stock photo of a model is a dropshipper one bad season away from closing.
Check the founder's LinkedIn. Check the registered company. Search the brand name plus "complaint" on Reddit and the Indian consumer forums. Five minutes of work tells you more than a six month return cycle.
Criterion 7, Price to fit value
Ask the question backwards. Not "is this expensive". Instead, "what am I paying for above the Rs 599 shirt on the same platform".
A Rs 1,499 shirt should give you better GSM, better stitching density, better collar interfacing, a tested Indian fit informed by our INDIAsize informed size guide, and a returns policy that respects your time. If it gives you the same fabric in a different colour, you are paying for the marketing.
The four pillars of value above the mass market line are: 1. Fabric quality you can measure (GSM, weave, finish) 2. Pattern work you can feel (shoulder seam, sleeve pitch, hem) 3. Stitching density you can count (8 to 12 stitches per inch on side seams) 4. Service you can use (exchange, alteration, response time)
If a brand at Rs 1,499 cannot beat a Rs 599 shirt on at least three of those four, you are paying for the logo, not the cloth.
The 60 second test you can run on any Indian menswear brand's product page
Pick a shirt. Time yourself. You are looking for six things:
:::comparison-table | What a serious brand discloses | What a thin brand hides | |---|---| | Fit description in words, not just S to XL | "Slim fit" with no measurements | | GSM and weave named | "Premium cotton" only | | Country of origin of the cloth | Nothing | | Returns window in days, free pickup yes or no | Buried in a footer link | | Stitching density or construction detail | Marketing adjectives | | Founder name and city | Stock photos, no humans | :::
If the brand passes four out of six, you are likely to keep the shirt. If it passes two, you are likely to send it back. If it passes none, you are funding someone's next Meta ad.
The Indian menswear category has matured enough that you do not need to gamble. The information is on the page, or it is missing on purpose. Either way, the page is telling you what to do. For a deeper read on what category that is, the working definition of engineering for the Indian frame is the next piece, and the D2C menswear sub segments and where each one fits maps the wider field.
:::faq-block Q: Are Indian fit charts really different from international ones? Yes. NIFT scanned over 25,000 Indians because UK, US, and EU size standards did not map onto Indian bodies. Indian men in the regular build profile have a different shoulder to chest ratio than the Western V shape template.
Q: What is a fair returns window for an Indian D2C menswear brand? At least 7 days from delivery, with free reverse pickup and a size exchange that does not restart the clock. 15 days is better. Anything under 7 is the brand asking you to absorb its fit failures.
Q: Is GSM the same as quality? No. GSM tells you weight, which tells you use case. A 110 GSM voile suits July, a 175 GSM oxford suits the office round the year. Higher is not better, it is different.
Q: How do I check if a brand drafts for the Indian frame? Ask. Email customer support. A brand that drafts on an Indian fit model will tell you the city, the height, and the build. A brand that imports patterns will dodge the question or send you a copy paste reply.
Q: Why are Indian online apparel return rates so high? Mostly fit. Industry data points to sizing as the cause of roughly 40 to 53 percent of apparel returns. Brands that do not invest in pattern work pass the cost of that mismatch to the buyer in shipping time and frustration. :::