Reliance Brands brings BCBG Max Azria to India

Aiming to expand its international brand portfolio, Reliance Brands, has signed a long-term franchise agreement

with American fashion house BCBG Max Azria. The label is known for dressing up scores of Hollywood A-listers like Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry. BCBG will be the first women's only apparel brand in Reliance's portfolio, which includes Kenneth Cole, Diesel, Brooks Brothers besides several others.

Reliance plans to open standalone stores of BCBG Max Azria, the flagship label of the billion dollar group, and BCBGeneration, by next year. The BCBG Max Azria merchandise would be priced from Rs 6,000 to Rs 20,000 while the Generation collection will be available between Rs 4,000-12,000.

The Tunisia-born French designer Max Azria, founded the group 25 years ago in Los Angeles. The label began offering fashion at affordable prices much before brands like Zara and H&M entered the scene.

Reliance Brands operates as many as 98 stores of 15 international fashion brands and expects to close the year with 115 stores. Strong competitor to the apparel retailers like Arvind and Madura in the Indian branded retail market, Reliance Brands (RBL), despite completing just four years of operations is racing ahead of others. From one Diesel store in 2010, RBL today has 40 brands across segments, including luxury labels like Ermenegildo Zegnaand Stuart Weitzman retailing through 150 points of sales. Plans are in the pipeline to bring more fashion brands into India, apart from establishing the position of existing stores and exploring investment opportunities in Indian fashion labels.

While RBL is in talks with a few Indian labels for a lifelong investment, the company is looking at filling the gap in the beauty segment before the end of this year. Another category, company wants to explore is children's clothing after successful stint with Hamleys.