Sachin Tendulkar bats for premium menswear True Blue

After retiring from cricket, Sachin Tendulkar has trained his eyes in a new passion – clothes. He has launched a premium menswear apparel brand True Blue in a joint venture with Arvind Fashion Brands. The brand will open 25-30 stores and is aiming at Rs 200-Rs 300 crore revenue in five years. The first set of stores will be launched in May 2016 in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Men aged 28 and above will be the main target. The range includes T-shirts, shirts, denims as well as a premium range including evening wear jackets that are priced at Rs 8,000 and above. Later, footwear, accessories, belts etc. will be added.

Tendulkar was very particular about signing up with Arvind Fashion Brands because he prefers if the company has a history to it or is such that Tendulkar can believe in. The name True Blue came about because blue can be associated with cricket. Also, it’s a semi-sporty young brand and the name was nice to go with it. Through True Blue, the company will try to break the perception that best clothing come from the West. Little do people realise that most clothing is manufactured in India and later labels are added to them. The aim is to try and flip that.

There are plans to go global but that will happen only when the business is established in India.