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Shift 5 of 7

Choose through people you can see yourself in.

FromModels who are castToCustomers who choose to model

Fashion has always used models to help people imagine themselves in clothes. This shift adds one thing: the models can be real customers who chose to take part, and people can find them by recognising themselves. The relationship doesn’t have to end at the purchase.

Level 1 Concept4 min read

“That person looks like me”

Ananya buys a Khadi kurta through Rukmini. It fits beautifully, and she wears it three different ways in the first month. illustrative

A few days later the Khadi app asks: “You’ve got a great eye. Would you like to become a Khadi model?”

Most people will say no, and that is perfectly fine. Some will say yes. They create a digital avatar with their proportions, their look and their taste, and start trying on Khadi virtually. Someone else sees one of Ananya’s looks and thinks: “That person looks like me.”

That is the insight at the heart of this shift. An ordinary customer becomes a fashion model, on her own terms.

Discovery through people like you

From
  1. Brand
  2. model
  3. customer
To
  1. Brand
  2. customer
  3. model
  4. new customer

Instead of only asking “show me Khadi kurtas,” a customer could ask: “Show me how this looks on someone with proportions like mine.” “Show me people whose taste is like mine.” “Find me someone who dresses the way I’d like to dress.” Models could be found by combinations of fit, proportions, age, aesthetic, occasion, material and style. Not just product discovery, but discovery through people you can see yourself in.

The Stylist stays at the heart of it. A look on someone else’s avatar leads back to the customer’s own Stylist: “This is available through your Khadi Stylist.” Then the questions go to a person: “Will this work for me?” “Which fabric should I choose?” “Can you arrange a fitting?” The model creates inspiration. The Stylist creates confidence.

Aspiration becomes insight

Imagine 1,000 customers buy through the network and perhaps 100 choose to become models illustrative. Those 100 create thousands of looks, which inspire others, become content, reveal emerging trends and lead to purchases.

A purchase tells you what someone bought. A look tells you what they wanted to wear.

That could give producers and Stylists something new: a view of what people aspire to, before they buy. And people can grow through the network. A customer can stay a customer, or become a model, a storyteller, a creator, and one day even a Stylist.

Go deeper

What already exists

Fashion has always used models, and virtual try-on tools now let shoppers see garments on their own photo. In December 2025 Google rolled one out in India[1]. This shift adds one thing to both: the models are real customers, and people find them by recognising themselves.

Scope. We haven’t reviewed the quality of avatars or try-on for handloom fabrics, or any evidence that customers choose with more confidence when they see people like themselves. Those are things the pilot tests.

Consent, likeness and body data

Opt in, always. Becoming a model is an invitation offered after purchase, never a default and never a condition.

Adults only. India’s data-protection law treats anyone under 18 as a child and requires verifiable consent from a parent or guardian before a child’s data is processed[2]. The model option is open only to customers aged 18 and over.

The avatar belongs to the person it represents. They decide who sees it, can pause it at any time, and can delete it and all their body data permanently. The law already gives the right to withdraw consent at any point and to seek erasure[2].

Body data with extra care. Measurements and avatars are among the most personal data in the network. The law has no separate category for sensitive data[2], so the higher standard here is our own: stored securely and never used for anything their owner hasn’t agreed to.

Protect likeness. Avatars can’t be downloaded, copied or used outside the network, and are shown only in the way their owner chose.

Real bodies. No reshaping, no idealised edits and no ranking. Every body is shown as it is.

Scope. The Rules under the data-protection law were notified on 14 November 2025, and most obligations take effect 18 months after publication, around May 2027[3]. We have read summaries of the Act and Rules, not their full text, and haven’t taken legal advice on avatars and likeness. That is the first task before any avatar is made.

Who it helps

Customers could see clothes on people who look like them and choose with more confidence. Customer-models get a creative outlet, recognition in their community and a playful way to explore their own style. Stylists get a stream of relatable inspiration to share. Producers see what people want to wear, not only what they have already bought.

What could go wrong

  • Consent that isn’t really free.An invitation after a purchase can feel like pressure, so it is made once, can be declined without effect and never changes a customer’s service.
  • Misuse of likeness.An avatar that leaves the network could be copied, so avatars can’t be downloaded or reused and are deleted on request.
  • Pressure on bodies.Visible models can prompt comparison, so there is no reshaping, ranking or scoring.
  • A feature few want.Most people will decline, which is fine, but too few would make the signal thin, so the pilot measures uptake before anything more is built.

How we’d test it

Thirty to fifty enthusiastic customers from the pilot communities are invited, with basic avatars and a small collection of virtual garments before anything more advanced.

The test
A small invitation
What we would measure
Measure how many choose to take part, how many looks they create, whether those looks lead others to their Stylists, and how the models feel about the experience. Expand the invitation, and the wardrobe, as trust and quality grow.
What would end the idea
Few customers opt in, looks lead nobody to a Stylist, or models report discomfort with the experience.

Sources

  1. [1]Social Samosa, Google rolls out virtual apparel try-on tool in India (3 December 2025)Checked; a trade-press report
  2. [2]PRS Legislative Research, The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023Checked; a summary of the Bill as passed by Parliament in August 2023
  3. [3]SCC Online, Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025: key highlights (26 December 2025)Checked via a legal summary; the Rules’ own text not read

Spotted a source we missed or a rule we misread? Tell us what we got wrong.

Looks, events and purchases all produce signals. The next shift is about how thousands of Stylists, producers and communities share them.