Is Trent out of fashion?

In the fickle world of fashion, few brands stay in trend for long. But Trent, the Tata Group's retail showstopper, has managed to effortlessly strut through the last decade. Stores are sprouting. Sales are growing. And investors—until recently—were swooning. Then came the stumble. A 28 per cent year-on-year rise in quarterly revenue should have turned some heads. Instead, the market turned its back. The stock dropped 15 per cent in a day. Something is clearly amiss. Is Trent's growth in all the right places? On the surface, Trent's figures still dazzle. Zudio—the budget fashion chain that has quietly conquered every mall, high street, and roadside corner alike—continues to drive expansion with Westside humming along. Trent has now crossed the 1,000-store milestone in India. But if you scratch beneath the surface, the polish starts to fade. Same-store sales growth (SSSG), the clearest signal of consumer loyalty, has slowed. The post-pandemic spending spree is losing steam. FY24's performance suggests that Trent's recent growth owes more to store openings than customer enthusiasm. Growth on a downhill runway Trent's quarterly revenue rise slows sharply as the base effect kicks in Q1 FY25 Q2 FY25 Q3 FY25 Q4 FY25 Revenue growth YoY (%) 56.2 39.4 34.3 28.2 With the number of tiles higher than the footfall, a more fundamental question arises. If store openings are doing the heavy lifting, what happens when expansion slows-or stalls? Similar store count,

This article was originally published on April 12, 2025.