Kartik Kumra

Kartik Kumra is an Indian designer born in New Delhi in 2000. He studied economics at the University of Pennsylvania and entered fashion without formal design training, initially learning about product, demand and international resale through a small sneaker-trading business.

During the pandemic, Kumra used those proceeds to begin working with weavers, dyers, block printers and embroiderers across India. He launched Karu Research while still at university, beginning with one-off kantha jackets and a small Instagram release before developing a wider network of makers and international stockists.

Kumra graduated in 2022, reached the LVMH Prize semifinals in 2023 and renamed the label Kartik Research at the end of that year. He subsequently entered the official Paris menswear calendar, opened stores in New Delhi and New York, was named to TIME100 Next in 2025 and returned to the LVMH Prize semifinals in 2026.

Kumra builds collections through analogue research into Indian subcultures, historical figures, music, architecture and working dress. These sources guide colour, silhouette and graphics, but are filtered through relaxed shirts, tailoring, workwear and sportswear rather than treated as fixed heritage forms.

His process depends on direct collaboration with specialist makers. Handloom weaving, block printing, kantha, chikankari, natural dyeing and hand embroidery retain small irregularities that identify how the garment was made. Textile knowledge is therefore part of authorship, not a decorative layer added after design.

Kumra places commercial clarity alongside intensive craft. Familiar proportions and useful wardrobe pieces allow labour-heavy surfaces to circulate through global retail, while production remains led from India. His larger ambition is to establish a South Asian cultural touchstone with the scale and continuity of an independent international fashion house.