KT Men Strikes Argentina Football Association (AFA) Partnership

Challenger Indian men’s grooming and personal care brand KT Men has struck a partnership with the Argentina Football Association (AFA) ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.  

The partnership sees Argentine superstars Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez promote KT men’s latest  GOAT Edition range of products. It has become the brand’s most ambitious collaboration as it develops a sports-inspired grooming ecosystem centred around football culture, active lifestyles and performance-driven self-care.

Dhruv Sayani, Founder of KT Men and KT Professional, stated, “India’s grooming industry is hitting a massive behavioural tipping point. Younger consumers today are completely influenced by intense fitness culture, competitive sports, outdoor routines, and performance-driven lifestyles. Despite this shift, most grooming brands still position their products around attraction, basic fragrance, or cosmetic vanity. We identified a clear, massive whitespace opportunity to build real products engineered around movement, high sweat, muscle recovery, active lifestyles, and athlete-inspired routines instead.”

“This is a cultural moment. Football today is emotion, ambition and global unity, and no team or athletes represents that better than the Argentine National Team, featuring Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez. The GOAT Edition is KT MEN’s tribute to greatness itself. India has never witnessed a grooming movement of this scale connected to global football icons. The association with AFA gives KT MEN the power to connect with millions of young Indian consumers who dream bigger and live with passion every day.”

The bootstrapped company is poised to invest almost US$4m in in nationwide brand-building initiatives across digital campaigns, OTT integrations, sports partnerships, creator activations, outdoor media, performance marketing and retail visibility programmes. 

According to ASN data, football (7%, ~US$61.1m) is the 2^nd highest backed sport in India’s sports sponsorship industry since Q323, with a quarterly investment of almost US$5.4m during this period. After a slightly muted investment period from Q325 to Q126, which saw investments oscillate between US$148k and US$1.4m+, Q226’s forecast is tipped to hit US$3.8m.