Arvind — dependable mill capability for the brands and retailers that ship at scale

2026-08-26 by Lucia Bianchi

Arvind Clothing Stores, IKEA Textiles, Burgundy Drapery & Jersey Knit Fixes: A Fabric Buyer's FAQ

Real answers from an 8-year fabric procurement manager: where to find Arvind clothing stores in India, which Arvind fashion brands to shop online, the Arvind–IKEA textile connection, burgundy drapery fabric prices, and how to fix a hole in jersey knit fabric.

I've spent the last 8 years as a procurement manager at a mid-size apparel company, handling over ₹8 crore in fabric purchases every year. People assume my job is all spreadsheets and vendor meetings — and it is, mostly. But the questions I actually get from friends and small brands are far more practical: where to buy, what it should cost, and what to do when fabric fails. Here are the ones I hear most, answered straight.

1. Is Arvind a manufacturer or a store? Where are Arvind clothing stores in India?

Arvind is both. It's one of India's largest integrated textile mills — spinning, weaving, finishing — and it also sells directly through its own retail chain, The Arvind Store. Most people don't realize the mill and the stores are the same company.

The Arvind store locations in India cover most big cities: Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune. I'm not 100% sure of the current store count because it keeps changing, but the full list is on their official site (thearvindstore.com).

Cost wise, buying at The Arvind Store gets you closer to mill pricing because you've cut out the wholesale middleman. But timing matters. Their end-of-season sales are when the pricing actually gets interesting — in my experience, paying full MRP at any brand store is rarely a smart procurement move.

2. Which Arvind fashion clothing brands can I buy online in India?

Arvind's own brands are Flying Machine (denim and casuals), Excalibur (festive/sherwani wear), and Disrupt (streetwear). They also operate international brands in India under license — Arrow, US Polo Assn, Tommy Hilfiger, and Calvin Klein.

You can buy all of them online at Myntra, Amazon, Flipkart, Ajio, and their own brand websites. Prices vary across platforms — I've seen the same shirt ₹500 cheaper on one marketplace than another on the same day, so it pays to compare. The licensed brands carry royalty fees baked into the MRP, and the only time you see real discounts on them is during big sale events.

If you want Arvind's factory quality without the license markup, buy Flying Machine or Disrupt. Honestly, my own wardrobe is about 40% Flying Machine jeans bought during sales. If you ask me, that's the best value in their portfolio.

3. What's the actual connection between Arvind and IKEA textiles?

Arvind is one of IKEA's textile suppliers in India — they manufacture home furnishing fabrics for IKEA's India range. That's public information, mentioned in Arvind's own reports, but people draw the wrong conclusion from it. They hear "Arvind makes IKEA textiles" and assume IKEA textile quality equals Arvind quality. Not exactly.

Here's the procurement reality: IKEA specifies everything — GSM, thread count, dyes, finish, even the acceptable tolerance range — and sets the target price. The same mill that weaves a budget IKEA curtain also weaves premium fabric for other customers, to completely different specs. If a cheap IKEA textile feels kinda flimsy, that's the spec IKEA chose to buy, not the mill being "bad."

The lesson: "made by the same factory as X" tells you almost nothing. The spec sheet matters more than the supplier name. That's probably the most useful habit I've picked up in 8 years of buying fabric.

4. What should burgundy drapery fabric cost?

It depends on the spec, but as of early 2025, here are rough retail ranges in India: poly-cotton blends ₹200–400 per meter, pure cotton ₹400–800 per meter, and linen or silk-linen blends ₹800–2,000 per meter. Don't hold me to those numbers by mid-2025 — fabric prices move — so verify current rates before ordering.

What most buyers miss is that burgundy is an unforgiving color. Cheaply dyed fabric fades within 6–12 months if it gets direct sunlight. I once saved ₹300 per meter on discounted drapery fabric; it looked fine in the showroom and washed out within a year. Replacing it cost more than my original savings — the classic penny-wise, pound-foolish trap.

Ask for lightfastness data before buying, and get a total cost breakdown. Lining, hardware, and tailoring are rarely included in the per-meter quote. As I say to every vendor, "what's NOT included?" matters more than the price tag.

5. How do I fix a hole in jersey knit fabric without ruining it?

For a small hole a centimeter or less, use a ladder stitch from the inside to pull the edges together — it's nearly invisible and works on most knits. For snags, skip the needle entirely: push the loop back through from the wrong side using a knitting needle or crochet hook.

Two rules from someone who costs out quality failures for a living:

  • Don't use iron-on patches on stretchy knits. They kill the stretch in that area, creating a stiff spot that distorts the fit.
  • Match the thread weight and fiber. Standard polyester thread on cotton jersey is a mismatch that pulls and puckers.

A ₹100–200 repair at a local tailor extends a ₹2,000 t-shirt without drama. The most expensive thing you can do is cut the hole bigger while trying to fix it yourself. And if the fabric is already thinning around the hole, no repair will hold — knowing when not to fix it is a cost skill too. Spending ₹300 to resurrect a ₹400 t-shirt is bad math.

6. What's your #1 piece of advice for new clothing brands buying fabric?

Stop chasing the lowest quote. I've watched new brands take the "cheap" option without comparing specs, then pay twice when the fabric failed. It's the most common mistake in small-brand procurement.

Three things I make every new supplier walk through:

  1. Compare spec sheets, not just prices. Fiber content, GSM, weave tightness, shrinkage, and lightfastness determine whether "cheap" is actually cheap.
  2. Ask for defect rate numbers. A mill that quotes 2% and backs it up with data is worth more than one that says "quality is our priority." After tracking six years of invoices, I found our real budget overruns didn't come from price increases — they came from defective batches we had to redo.
  3. Ask "what's NOT included in this price?" before signing. Setup, shipping, rejection, and rework all show up later if you don't. The vendor who lists everything upfront — even if their total looks higher — usually costs less in the end.

7. Is fabric from the same mill always the same quality?

No. Same mill, same fabric name, different batch quality. Dye lots drift, yarn counts vary slightly between runs, and QC tightens or loosens depending on the order. We saw this in 2023 when a reliable mill delivered an 8% defect rate on one batch against their usual 2% — same fabric code, same machines. Big buyers like IKEA deal with this by auditing suppliers and inspecting shipments instead of trusting reputations.

For smaller buyers, the habit is simple: ask for batch numbers, request a pre-dispatch sample, and inspect before releasing payment. In my experience, this one habit saves more money than any discount negotiation.

Trust the process, not the name. That's the whole game.