Lifestyle major Arvind Fashions is giving a fillip to the US Polo brand in India with an all-round marketing, retail and e-commerce push this year, Kulin Lalbhai, vice-chairman and non-executive director, Arvind Fashions, said in a conversation with Fe. “US Polo is the largest casual wear brand in the country. It is the right time to give it an even deeper and richer experience,” Lalbhai said, after announcing that his firm was launching US Polo’s e-commerce site in the country apart from a “Legends Forever Play Together” campaign featuring actors Arjun Rampal and Milind Soman and tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
US Polo, which is into men’s wear, will also offer brand extensions into footwear and accessories and has stepped into areas such as kids and women’s wear as well as inner wear. The brand, which was licensed to the Arvind group in 2013 by the US Polo Association, is nearing the Rs 2,000-crore-mark in terms of topline this year, Lalbhai said.
India is the third-largest market for US Polo in the world after the US and Turkey and the all-round push is likely to take the country to the second spot in the next few years, Michael Prince, president and CEO of USPA Global Licensing, said. Presently, 25% of US Polo’s sales in the country come from online aggregator websites, 45% comes from exclusive brand outlets and 30% from multi-brand stores.
Arvind Fashions also plans to open more than 50 stores of US Polo this year, each maintaining an average size of 1,500 square feet. Most of these stores will be opened in Tier-II and Tier-III markets. Currently, the brand’s retail footprint in India is at more than 400 brand stores, and over 2,000 shop-in-shops, across more than 200 cities in India.