Ship Clothes from India Worldwide

Why clothes are worth forwarding

Indian fashion is cheap by any international standard, and the ethnic wear simply does not exist abroad at a sane price. Churidars, kurtas, sarees, set mundu, sherwanis, cotton shirting, children's clothes — buying them in India and forwarding a box is routinely cheaper than buying the equivalent locally, if it can be bought locally at all.

Where to buy

Myntra and Ajio for branded fashion, Meesho for unbranded at prices nothing else matches, Amazon.in and Flipkart for everything else. For ethnic wear, the boutiques and silk houses are better than any marketplace, and most of them will courier within India on a phone call.

Names worth knowing: Biba, Libas, Soch, W for Woman and House of Indya for everyday and festive ethnic wear; Manyavar for men’s wedding wear; Kalki Fashion and Koskii for occasion wear; Fabindia and Jaypore for handloom; and silk houses such as Nalli and Pothys. Store guides: Myntra, Ajio, Meesho, Fabindia, Jaypore and Kerala boutiques. For sellers who take orders only by message, see buying from Instagram sellers.

Regional craft is where the Indian price matters most. See our notes on chikankari from Lucknow, bandhani tie-dye, phulkari embroidery from Punjab, chaniya choli for Navratri and block-print fabric, or start with the overview of Indian ethnic wear. For every Indian store worth knowing, see our list of Indian shopping sites you can use from abroad.

Tailoring and stitched orders

Sending measurements to a tailor in India and having the finished garment couriered to your suite works well, and is often why people start forwarding in the first place. Allow for the stitching time before you plan the shipment, and add a pre-alert so we know a parcel is coming from a name that is not a shop.

Keeping the weight down

Clothing is light and bulky, which is the expensive combination in air freight — you are charged on the space the box takes as much as on what it weighs. Retail packaging is the enemy: polybags inside boxes inside boxes. We strip it out, fold flat and pack tightly into one carton, which often takes a third off the chargeable weight.

Returns and sizes

Indian sizing runs small and varies by brand. A return is straightforward while the parcel is still in India. If something is wrong, tell us before you request shipping.

What customs makes of clothing

Clothing is one of the least troublesome categories to import — no licence, no restriction in normal quantities. What matters is the declared value: above your country's threshold, duty is charged on it.