Brand Kohli Eyes India’s Fast-Growing Athleisure Market

The Kohli inspired line is targeted at Indian millennials, who are likely to fuel the forecasted US$8b in the nation’s  sports and athleisure apparel market by 2020.

“Virat’s athleisure brand will be present in categories such as footwear, apparels, and accessories,” said Abhishek Ganguly, managing director of Puma India.

According to Ganguly, Kohli’s gargantuan US$16.4m association with Puma is not a sponsorship deal, but a partnership deal.

“Ours is a partnership agreement in which we will do certain things together and both sides have a say in the game,” said Ganguly, adding, “We will own the distribution network and the product expertise. However, like it happens in any partnership, he gets a few things on the table, while we get a few things.”

Kohli’s brand will be available across all Puma outlets, multi brand retail outlets and across e-commerce platforms including Puma.com. The company has not decided if it will open retail outlets for Kohli’s brand.

“It is Virat’s brand which will have a special logo, brand name and brand identity. He will be seen donning the brand and is actively involved in the creation of the products,” said Ganguly.

Beyond the product line, Puma and Kohli plan to also create fan engagement activities through branded content and India’s grass roots sporting landscape.

This isn’t Kohli’s first play in India’s thriving apparel industry, in 2014 he had launched Wrongn, a men’s casual wear with Universal Sportsbiz, and successfully raised US$7.2m the following year for its pan-Indian expansion. The likes of Bollywood A-lister Hrithik Roshan with e- fashion retailer Myntra has also been involved in the athleisure industry with his HRX brand since Q413.

What these deals mean is that the wave of India’s celebrity endorsers moving away from merely plugging brands into owning stakes in businesses they represent is going to be a trend to watch out for in the near future.