Brands
India’s year-end dating reset: fewer swipes, clearer hearts
MUMBAI: As the curtain falls on 2025, India’s dating scene is doing what it does best at the end of the year: pausing, pondering and quietly panicking. According to fresh insights from homegrown dating app QuackQuack, singles across the country are taking a long, honest look at their love lives and changing how they match, chat and commit.
Based on a year-end survey of 9,746 active users aged 22 to 35 from Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities, the app notes a clear shift in mood. Dating, once breezy and experimental, has turned more thoughtful and deliberate as the new year approaches.
“This December, dating is far less casual and far more reflective,” said QuackQuack founder and CEO Ravi Mittal. “We see this every year. The new year brings a sense of urgency, but what stands out is that people are not chasing more matches. They are chasing the right one.”
Resolutionary dating takes over
Just as fitness goals surge in January, dating resolutions are having a moment too. Nearly 44 per cent of users aged 22 to 28 admitted they are rethinking past dating choices, while three in five said they no longer want to settle for less. The result is what QuackQuack calls resolutionary dating.
Low-effort chats are being quietly dropped, while self-awareness is in. User bios are filling up with phrases like “consistent”, “emotionally available” and “worth my effort”, signalling a move away from surface-level attraction towards compatibility that actually lasts.
The great chat autopsy
Reflection, of course, comes with a touch of overthinking. Three in five daters from Tier 1 and 2 cities confessed to revisiting old conversations, analysing replies and re-reading jokes to figure out where things slipped.
This habit is especially common among those who have faced ghosting, almost-relationships or situationships that never quite found a name. Advait, a 26-year-old from Pune, summed it up neatly. “I dissected every ‘haha’ and every dry reply. In some cases, I realised we were never compatible. I was just trying too hard to make it work.”
Plus-one panic and wedding season woes
Add wedding season to the mix and anxiety inevitably rises. With the familiar line “You are next” echoing around banquet halls, 27 per cent of women and 31 per cent of men above 26 reported feeling heightened dating pressure at year end.
Some admitted to reopening old chats, only to be reminded why they ended. Around 18 per cent said they tried fast-tracking conversations to make one match stick, though most agreed the rush rarely led anywhere good.
Yet panic is not always pointless. Two in five daters over 30 said the pressure has pushed them to be bolder, more honest and quicker to share non-negotiables. For many, the year-end scramble has delivered something unexpected: clarity.
As 2026 beckons, India’s singles seem less interested in fairytale timelines and more focused on getting it right. Fewer swipes, deeper conversations and higher standards are setting the tone for the year ahead.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
