Reliance Brands to bring Thomas Pink to India

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Brands is planning to bring

British shirt brand Thomas Pink, owned by French major Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) to India. This is a part of its plans to rapidly increase its presence in the fast-growing domestic premium-to-luxury fashion retail market. Reliance Brands, a wholly-owned arm of Reliance Industries, and Thomas Pink have signed an exclusive long-term franchise agreement to set up stores which sell shirts and accessories of the British brand named after its founder Pink, an 18th century London tailor.

The Mumbai-based premium-to-luxury fashion brands company will open its first Thomas Pink store this year in South Mumbai’s upmarket location where shoppers buy international brands in glitzy malls. The Ambanis have signed two partnerships in less than a week, signalling their intention to scale up the premium-to-luxury retail space after a low-profile beginning in 2007. Ever since the opening of the first store in Mumbai’s upscale Juhu area in April 2010, Reliance Brands has been on an expansion spree, opening 60 stores, 20 each in the north, west and southern states.

The company has so far partnered with 10 brands including Diesel, Hamleys, Ermenegildo Zegna, Kenneth Cole and Timberland. Less than a week ago, Reliance Brands struck a JV with Iconix Brand Group, grabbing the ownership rights of 20 international lifestyle brands.