US shoe brand enters India

US sports shoe brand Saucony is coming to India in a partnership with Reliance Retail.

As Saucony's India franchisee, Reliance Retail has the rights to distribute Saucony across different channels--be it Reliance’s own stores, other multi brand outlets or online or Saucony standalone outlets.

Reliance Retail is already testing the brand in some of its Reliance Footprint outlets. The Reliance Footprint chain operates more than 200 footwear outlets in about 25 states.

The addition of Saucony to its offerings is in line with Reliance Retail’s endeavor to bring industry leading brands, products and services across consumption baskets.

Saucony is a 120-year-old brand popular for racing shoes for track and field athletic events in its home market in the US. Its parent Wolverine World Wide is known for its brands including Caterpillar and Hush Puppies.

Reliance Retail added 371 stores across various store concepts during 2016-17. During the quarter, Reliance Retail added 63 stores across various store concepts. The company plans to add another 500 outlets across segments in 2017-18.

Reliance Retail operates 3,616 stores across 702 cities with an area of over 13.5 million square feet. For the fourth quarter of financial year 2017 Reliance Retail saw a 65.6 per cent increase in profit before depreciation interest and taxes year-on-year.