H&A, Brett Lee tie up to launch active wear

Popular Australian cricketer Brett Lee has teamed up with Alok H&A to bring his active wear collection to India. Lee’s range includes tees, track pants, capris, shorts, bags, sippers and a whole lot of accessories. “Lee’s active wear line would be a value

premium offering. We are offering BL branded active wear products at select stores in Mumbai and would like to scale it up to other cities at the earliest,” says Reshabh Raizada, President, H&A.

Lee is recognized as one of the fastest bowlers in cricket. A popular name in India, during the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy in India, Lee had recorded a duet with India’s music diva Asha Bhosle called “You’re the One for Me”. With his active wear collection the cricketer hopes to woo his Indian fans. “I am here to grow the brand and with the launch of active wear by Alok H&A under my name, we aim to provide the consumer what they want. We got feedback from people on what they need when they are training or just going for a walk and have incorporated their inputs into this line. You have to be comfortable with what you wear. And I believe we have provided that.”

H&A will showcase Lee’s active wear and other products in select Mumbai stores in the coming weeks. Varun Jiwrajka, Head, H&A explains, “Lee a well-known Australian cricketer enjoys a huge popularity in India. With a focused sales and marketing effort, H&A would help reach out the Brett Lee collection to customers across India.” For the autumn/winter the brand will be introducing a dynamic range of jackets. “We have accessories like shoes, bags, belts, jewelry, sunglasses etc, under our own label called FX. This category is growing and we would like to expand it,” says Sunil O Khandelwal, Group Chief Financial Officer.

With an aim to get into the domestic and retail business, Alok H&A was incorporated in the year 2007. H&A stores are value retail outlets, positioned as complete family stores for apparel, home textiles and accessories. Jiwrajka adds, “All this time in H&A we were doing affordable fashion, active wear was something that was missing in our portfolio. We thought of a joint venture with Brett Lee which suited him and us. We have the right products for the masses under the Brett Lee brand name.”

H&A has 204 EBOs and 173 shop-in-shops across India and is ready for expansion. Khandelwal informs, “We are ready with our expansion plans. Our back-end is stable now and with the active wear range we have completed our product portfolio. The Brett Lee range will be available in H&A outlets and initially we are launching in 50 stores.” The group is also increasing the size of its stores to 2,000 to 3,000 sq. ft. to display its full strength while the 500 to 800 sq. ft. stores may get converted into more specialized outlets. “We have done this concept in Mumbai high street Phoenix. We are close to 300 stores now and by March 2012 we are aiming to increase our store count to 500. This will include shop-in-shops.” The brand is also targeting Tier II-III cities. What’s more one more international brand will be added to the H&A portfolio soon. “We have already tied up and will be launching it soon. This will be available at H&A outlets, MBOs and large formats,” concludes Khandelwal.