Chennai-based Kothari Industrial Corporation (KICL), part of the D C Kothari group, is in talks to acquire French footwear and apparel brand Kickers, a move that would transform the company from an outsourcing partner into an international brand owner.

“We wanted to take Intellectual property for Kickers. We are in talks and hopefully there will be good news which will be announced very soon,” Jinnah Rafiq Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Kothari Industrial Corporation, said on Thursday.

KICL’s Kickers deal spans India and 8 neighbouring markets

KICL brought Kickers to India in 2024 through a 30-year licensing and distribution agreement covering India and eight neighbouring markets such as Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. “Kickers is available all over the World and manufactured in China. Once we acquire, we can get the entire production facility in India,” Ahmed said.

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Kickers would be its third major project after contract manufacturing for Crocs and Adidas. The company has partnered with Taiwan-based Evervan – Shoe Town Group, the world’s third-largest contract manufacturer in the non-leather footwear segment. Its joint venture, Phoenix Kothari Footwear, has set up a facility in Perambalur to manufacture Crocs footwear and has completed a separate plant in Karur to produce Adidas shoes.

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India-EU FTA could speed footwear shift to India

Ahmed said the recently concluded India–EU Free Trade Agreement is expected to accelerate footwear manufacturing shifts to India. “We were facing a lot of challenges due to the US tariffs. We were exporting 60% per cent to the US,” he said. “The manufacturers were moving to Indonesia because it had an FTA with the US and EU. However, land and labour is expensive in Indonesia when compared to India. The EU trade deal brings a huge scope for India,” Ahmed added.

The India–EU FTA, signed on Tuesday, reduced tariffs on India’s leather and footwear exports to the EU to zero from 17%. India’s exports of leather, non-leather footwear and related products rose 25% year-on-year to ₹48,667 crore ($5.7 billion) in FY25.