More from Arvind Brands move to Reliance fold

MUMBAI: Barely three weeks after Darshan Mehta, former president of Arvind Brands and CEO of VF Arvind Brands, moved to head Reliance Brands, a few of his old colleagues are joining him in setting up the business. Mr Mehta, one of the best-known apparel marketers in the country is the CEO designate for Reliance Brands, a new business from Reliance Industries looking at bringing best luxury brands to the country.

According to industry sources, the senior management of Reliance Brands has a very distinct Arvind Brands flavour to it. First to join will be Sumeet Yadav, who was the former head of retailing at Arvind Brands, and business head, Nautica. Mr Yadav was also the former chief executive officer at Tommy Hilfiger and was with Ford Motors prior to that.

Pradeep Mukim, former business head for Jansport, a part of the VF Arvind Brands joint venture, will also join the senior management.

Finally, Nitin Chhabra, formerly with Hindustan Unilever and a six-year veteran of Arvind Brands, will join his colleagues at Reliance. Mr Chhabra was the business head of GANT, an apparel brand that was positioned at par with Hugo Boss. Everyone working with Arvind Brands in Bangalore would be working out of Mumbai.
When contacted, Mr Mehta refused to comment.

Reliance Brands has been set up as a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Industries, and is completely independent of Reliance Retail. It will look at bringing down the best-in-class luxury brands in apparel, footwear and accessories from across the world. One of the key segments it has identified is women’s wear, currently under represented in retail even though 60% of footfalls in malls constitute women.

FDI in retail is currently restricted to single-brand retailing, and luxury brands are likely to be retailed as stand-alones in India. Reliance Brands would look largely at joint ventures or licence agreements with global luxury retailers, but industry sources said they’d also consider acquisitions if it was relevant to the domestic market.