Ed Hardy, Shoppers Stop tie up to widen network

Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail (WLRPL) that brought in cult brands like Ed Hardy, and Christian Audigier to India in 2007 has tied up with Shoppers Stop for the first shop-in-shop at Juhu, Mumbai. With a vision to make high-end global brands

accessible to Indian consumers, WLRPL is a master franchise to open and operate exclusive stores and shop-in-shops across India for brands, Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier. “The initiative is to primarily license global premium brands into India along with incubating original brands in new categories,” opines Abhinav Zutshi, Business Head-International Brands, Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail.

Ed Hardy – a high-e

nd fashion line resulted from the partnership of the legendary French fashion designer, Christian Audigier with Don Ed Hardy in 2004. Another signature line introduced by him in India is ‘Christian Audigier’, which is a super premium brand for casual evening wear.

Providing the latest styles every month through a range of designs, Ed Hardy has a wide range of tees, jeans, dresses, jackets, wallets, belts, shoes, sunglasses and much more for the fashion conscious consumer. “The USP of our brand is that products are not repeated and hence, fashion conscious consumers want these products as collectibles and limited edition pieces,” Zutshi says.

Ed Hardy currently has nine stores across India of these three are EBOs and six shops-in-shops. The company is soon to launch another trendy outlet in South Delhi. This will be its second outlet in Delhi. Zutshi avers, “As far as expansion plans are go WLRPL will actively continue to deliver the best of brands and international fashion in the coming years. We are in the process of evaluating about six to seven global brands, which have a strong connect with the Indian consumer. Soon we will be launching some of these and hope to continue giving Indian consumers differentiated and high level service and experience.”

Already active on social media sites the brand keeps its consumers updated on the networking site like Facebook. “Facebook gives us an opportunity to gauge consumer’s needs and their perception about the brand,” exclaims Zutshi. Meanwhile, the brand plans to explore newer and fresher markets. For example, Zutshi says that women’s fashion for the age group 15-21 years is still untapped in India. The same applies for men’s denims and kids wear. “A few years down the line we would see Ed Hardy unearthing the potential of these segments as well,” he adds. Last year, the turnover for the brand was Rs 13 crores. This year, the expectation is a turnover of Rs 23 crores.