Reliance Brands and Rahul Mishra team up to launch ready-to-wear brand

Through a joint venture, luxury label developer Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) has partnered with Indian fashion designer Rahul Mishra to launch a new ready-to-wear business, with Mishra as creative director.

The duo plans to globally grow the brand and spread its reach across multiple categories, including accessories, footwear, home, beauty and jewellery. The strategy revolves around a launch through an international fashion week, ultimately seeking to establish a worldwide footprint of dedicated flagship stores within five years.

In a 60 to 40 joint venture, both RBL and Mishra are looking to combine their expertise, bringing together the development of a unique brand identity and Mishra’s extensive design expertise.

In a release, Mishra expressed his excitement over the opportunity to work with RBL, stating that it “brings with it a strong know-how in the management of luxury and retail landscape”. He added that it is his desire to “equally focus on ready-to-wear” and extend the Rahul Mishra design house to ultimately achieve mindful growth.

Horizontal and vertical global growth

Debuting at India Couture Week in 2015, the designer made his mark on the international industry as the first Indian designer to showcase at Paris Haute Couture week in January 2020. He has since gone on to show at the past five seasons of the event, where he aims to highlight his core philosophy - Environment, Employment and Empowerment.

Mishra has previously showcased ready-to-wear for 13 seasons of Paris Fashon Week, starting in 2015, and also boasts a retail footprint in high-end retail partners such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Harvey Nichols in London and China’s Joyce.

“Rahul Mishra’s flawless contemporary design sense and stunningly intricate pieces have spotlighted Indian expertise in crafts globally,” said Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures, a holding company part of RBL. “Accompanied with his expertise in leveraging international fashion forums to accelerate brand building and creating a global customer base, it’s the perfect secret sauce to co-create a global brand. It’s a strategic part of our ongoing commitment to nurture Indian art and culture.”