Uber luxury label Tom Ford entered India last year— with an interesting local partner.
Tom Ford’s franchisee in India is DS Sons, which is part of the Rs 1,600-crore Dharampal Satyapal Group, creator of Rajnigandha pan masala.
It also sells bottled water, masalas and soda under the Catch name and has, of late, diversified into infrastructure and hotels. But this is not the first time that a traditional Indian business house has forayed into the burgeoning luxury industry. We’ve seen the trend before in families with young scions, armed with foreign degrees, global exposure and a luxe lifestyle. Anjani Kasliwal, daughter of Nitin Kasliwal of SKNL, started a division called Brandhouse Retail and introduced Alfred Dunhill to India. “We diversified from being just a manufacturer of textiles and uniforms to being perhaps the only Indian textile giant to have a presence in all forms of fabric,” says the 25-year-old Kasliwal. Reid & Taylor and Stephens Brothers are among the labels that Brandhouse handles in India.
Gagan Goel, heir of the Essel Group, started Gaven Fashions in 2006 and tied up with Italian menswear label Pal Zileri. At that time, Goel bravely declared that he would bring in 20 luxury brands by 2009 but that never happened and the Group’s retail arm, Gavel Fashions is not much in the news anymore.
The world’s biggest steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal also got into the act, courtesy his daughter- in-law Megha. Mittal Family Trusts bought over the ailing German label Escada for €30 million in 2009. The label, which had filed for insolvency before the Mittals bought it, hasn’t yet reported good financial results. When we meet the Switzerland- educated Ritesh Kumar, the man behind Tom Ford in India, he does not shy away from the fact that his father and uncle were not very comfortable about getting into the luxury fashion business. He also says it was not an easy process to get Tom Ford’s nod but persistence and Ritesh’s passion for the label paid off. The DS Group has a 10-year franchise agreement with the brand and is confident of breaking even in 18 months.
Tom Ford Menswear is high-end even among luxury labels. The suits start at Rs 1.5 lakh.