The lion’s share of this growth will come from adjacent categories like footwear, women’s wear and innerwear
Mumbai: One of the strategic priorities for fashion & lifestyle major Arvind Fashions Ltd. (AFL) in the coming years would be to scale US Polo Assn. (USPA) a flagship casualwear brand in its kitty, the company’s managing director, Shailesh Chaturvedi told IndiaRetailing.
“US Polo is the largest brand in our portfolio. Out of the company’s revenue last year of Rs 4259 crore, US Polo was close to Rs 2,000 crore. Why can’t it be a Rs 5,000 crore brand? But we’re saying let’s not put any constraint on our thinking, just let it scale up and be very, very aggressive and very, very ambitious behind the US Polo brand. There’s no limit to our ambition, how big this brand can be,” he said.
To achieve this, Bengaluru-based AFL, which also has Tommy Hilfiger and Arrow in its portfolio, will focus on increasing its store and online presence, growing adjacent categories and launching new related products.
Currently, the brand has 450 physical outlets and leading marketplaces in addition to its website.
Marketing will also play a key role in scaling the brand, to reach new consumers and grow its customer base. An important part of that is collaborations with relevant celebrities.
It has partnered with Arjun Rampal, Milind Soman in the past and it has now collaborated with His Highness Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh (Pacho), who is the Maharaja of Jaipur. Pacho is a top-rated professional Polo player, highly regarded in global Polo circles.
“We decided this time to go more deep into the sport that we are known for, that is Polo. And that’s why we launched this campaign with Maharaja Padmanabh Singh (Pacho) from Jaipur. We couldn’t find a better fit than a real authentic polo global player for our brand,” Chaturvedi said.
As part of the collaboration, US Polo Assn. Has launched an exclusive premium collection, which has been developed working closely with the Maharaja. The collection features a slightly modified version of the Jaipur Family’s Royal Crest and colours from its Royal Flag called Pacharanga.
The collection is available in USPA stores, on the USPA website and Myntra. A high-quality video and print campaign featuring the Maharaja has been launched. “This is a global US Polo Campaign. We are the first country to launch it,” said the MD. The brand, which spends 5% of its revenue, towards marketing, hopes to recruit new customers as a result of the collaboration.
The brand will also focus on growing its “adjacent categories”(footwear, innerwear, kidswear and womenswear) which together are a Rs600 crore business accounting for 20% of USPA’s portfolio, the MD said.
The brand extensions began by launching jeans, then chinos, and footwear, which is now close to Rs250 crore business. The brand also launched kidswear which is now at Rs 200 crore. It also sells innerwear, and accessories and women’s wear, which it relaunched last year and almost doubled by the June 2024 quarter end.
The third strategic priority for the USPA is upgradation. “ So whether it’s the product quality, advertising, store experience or online experience, we are continuously investing behind this brand and upgrading so that the consumer gets an upgraded experience of the brand and sort of the relationship gets continuously more strengthened,” Chaturvedi said.
While the brand has been investing in upgrading its in-store experience by adding digital elements like I-pads for customers to browse for options at the stores, it is also focusing on increasing its online reach. Online accounts for about 20%-25% of its business.
“We have upgraded USPA’s retail identity the way the shopping experience happens in US Polo stores,” Chaturvedi said.
The other crucial area is omnichannel.
“ This omnipiece is critical to us. And we believe in the unified appeal where be it online or offline, you get a common high-quality experience of the brand called Us Polo Assn.,” Chaturvedi said.
