by ABFRLadmin | August 27, 2026
Welcome to the third in our Denim Decoded series where we explore expert POV about everything denim! Read to find out how designers spot denim’s next big hit before the data shows up.
Before sales numbers arrive, designers are already reading the clues: a fit that feels instantly right, a wash that matches the cultural mood, a fabric that moves well, and a silhouette people can imagine wearing on repeat.
Here’s how our design experts at Pantaloons, OWND, and TMRW House of Brands predict the future bestseller:
Denim has to feel new enough to excite people, but familiar enough to be understood instantly.
For Victoria Barker, AVP, Design Pantaloons Women’s Wear, a future bestseller can emerge from proven core silhouettes. She adds, “Updating a shape people already love with a new wash or colour can signal future success.”
Ishika Oberoi, Urbano, says the strongest products strike “the right balance between trend and timelessness.” A potential bestseller should feel fresh without feeling intimidating, modern without becoming short lived, and stylish without losing everyday relevance.
That is often where the magic sits. Neither in a completely alien silhouette, nor in a plain repeat. It is found in a familiar shape with just enough newness to make people look twice.
Like a little plot twist in blue.
The Pantaloons Denim Team identifies a future bestseller through what they call strong denim fundamentals: a clear silhouette identity, styling versatility, a comfort or function upgrade, and a strong wash story. That is the product’s Denim DNA.
Pinky Rai, The Indian Garage Co., also places fit at the centre of the story. Her early signal is versatility. As she puts it, “If a fit works across different body types, feels comfortable, is easy to style it has a strong chance of becoming a bestseller.”
Sanjay Kumar Suman, WROGN, gives us the three ‘rights’ of a future bestseller – “the right fit, right fabric and right wash” with the “perfect amount of chemical and dry process.” It is a simple line, but it says a lot. Denim cannot depend on trend alone. It needs technical precision before it can earn commercial scale.
The first clue, then, is a practical one. A great pair of jeans must sit well, move well and make sense beyond one body type or one styling moment.
Ravi Bhushan, Pantaloons Buying Lead, frames this sharply: a potential bestseller should solve “a clear need with a simple, compelling promise,” look and feel great immediately, and be “new but still familiar enough” to understand without explanation.
That is a powerful filter. Does the product offer better comfort for long days? Better stretch for movement? A cleaner fit for work and weekends? A lighter feel for warmer weather? A wash that works across more occasions?
WROGN’s examples show this need-led thinking clearly, from Butter Denim for all-day softness to UltraFlex for active and travel days, 365 Denim for temperature comfort and Stay Black for better colour retention.
A bestseller does not simply sit in someone’s cart. It earns space in their weekly rotation.
For all the frameworks and signals, fashion still leaves room for instinct.
Turna Biswas, Design Expert at OWND!, captures it with refreshing honesty: “Gut, as a product person it was always gut.” She also adds that customers can still surprise designers, which is exactly why the category stays exciting.
Her perspective adds an important emotional layer to the conversation. Denim is not only a product of data or trend mapping. It is also built on years of touching fabric, studying weight, watching how jeans age, seeing how bodies move and understanding what makes a garment feel personal.
For Turna, denim comes alive as it “fades, softens, and wears in,” reflecting the wearer’s journey. That belief in how denim ages, feels and gathers character becomes part of the designer’s instinct.
Sometimes, before a graph can confirm it, the hand already knows.
Across WROGN, The Indian Garage Co., Urbano, Pantaloons and OWND!, one idea comes through clearly: denim’s next bestseller is rarely the loudest pair in the room.
It is the one that gets many small things right. A fit that works across bodies. A fabric that supports the silhouette. A wash that feels current. A detail that adds value. A promise that is simple. A style that feels new, but not difficult.
Designers may begin with instinct, but they sharpen that instinct through craft, cultural direction, testing, consumer behaviour and scale readiness.
Denim may look simple from the outside. But predicting its next hit is a layered exercise in fit, feeling and foresight.
Before the data arrives, the product has already started speaking.
The best designers know how to listen.
