Scotch & Soda aims to hit high in India with JV partner Reliance Brands

Drawing inspiration from almost everything, Scotch & Soda’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection, on display at its Noida store, showcases the jungles of Congo. Founded in the 1980s, Scotch & Soda was rebranded and relaunched in 2001. After clocking almost 1 billion euros (around Rs 6,800 crores today) in retail value of products sold annually, the Dutch brand has entered India through a franchise agreement with Reliance Brands. It opened two stores in India last month—at the Mall of India, Noida, and Palladium Mall, Mumbai. A third store is coming up soon in New Delhi’s Ambience Mall.

India Foray

Dirk-Jan Stoppelenburg, CEO, Scotch & Soda feels to make an entry into any country, a company waits for the right partners to come along. The company has ventured into smaller, less significant countries before entering significant markets. As he says, as a fashion company, one presents their soul to the world through the clothes and accessories that one creates, and one can only do that if they have a local partner who understands and embraces it the way they themselves do and is able to present it the same way to the target clientele.

Scotch & Soda reflects the eclectic feeling that Amsterdam is to the world. Amsterdam is much less known as a fashion destination. So, the idea behind the brand was to present Amsterdam’s fashion, giving in depth insights, Stoppelenburg informs, that people in different cities dress differently. They have a certain dress code. Stoppelenburg points out in Amsterdam, the code is significantly wider. Especially for women, the possibilities of mixing are enormous. And it has been so since World War II. For example, a woman on a bike could be wearing green football socks, a fur muffler of her grandmother and pants that she would have bought during a vacation in Morocco. Everyone does that and that is the only common thing. It is highly individualistic and eclectic. What Scotch & Soda does is it mimics that approach year after year, season after season.

Talking about volumes, he says there are brands that get more than 50 per cent of their revenues from one particular style of product. The company makes about 12 million apparel products every year for the global market. The biggest product they have is about 18,000 pieces. They make about 1,200 styles in different colours so there are not many pieces in one particular colour.

The chosen retail platform

Stoppelenburg says they haven’t yet agreed on the chosen retail model for India but, five years down the line, a Scotch & Soda website might become the biggest store here. That would be a mono-brand selling place not multi-brand. The company’s target audience is anyone who likes and understands what the brand does and is prepared to pay for it. Right now, the company offers a mix of 60 per cent men, 30 per cent women and 10 per cent kids. But it is not a model. Scotch & Soda started purely as a men’s brand and seven years ago, it introduced women’s clothing. However, they are never governed by any particular kind of split and are ready to flow with the demand.