AI Is Making Fast Fashion Faster. He's Betting on Shirts That Last Years | Karthik, Islands of Loom

I was at a mall recently, hopping between stores. Most racks looked identical. Same fabrics, same colors, same silhouettes. When everyone references the same forecasting reports, visual sameness becomes hard to avoid.

Then I noticed something else. Legacy brand stores had great history, but tired execution. Trial room doors that didn't close properly. Stock spilling onto the retail floor. Sales staff barely engaging. Brand equity was doing the heavy lifting while the store quietly aged.

Newer brands were different. Clean aesthetics, staff who started conversations, spaces that felt intentional and cared for.

That contrast stuck with me. Which brings me to this week's episode.

Karthik Koppula spent years optimizing supply chains at Amazon and Zomato. Designing midmile logistics networks. Managing cold supply chains. Making things move faster. Now he's building Islands of Loom, a fashion brand where shirts are designed to last for years.

He's using organic fabrics, natural dyes, and small-batch production with makers who value craft over speed. Every choice deliberately makes his supply chain slower and more expensive.

AI is making fast fashion faster. SHEIN tests thousands of designs with AI and kills the losers in days. ZARA's design-to-store cycle keeps shrinking. Demand forecasting, trend prediction, inventory optimization - all getting more efficient.

Karthik is building its opposite.

In this episode, we explore:
How you build profitable economics when customers buy less, less often
Whether AI making fast fashion faster strengthens or weakens anti-fast fashion positioning
Why supply chain constraints can be competitive advantages
How physical retail experiences become differentiation when products commoditize
What success looks like for a business model built on durability, not replacement.

Catch Karthik Live On ChaiNet: The Agentic Commerce Podcast.