Reliance to acquire 40% stake in Manish Malhotra designer label

RBL’s investment is intended to fuel the growth of the 16 year old fashion label in India and abroad and establish Manish Malhotra as a global fashion powerhouse.

Both will work towards expanding the brand into a “large lifestyle consumption portfolio” and grow into other adjacent categories while maintaining the brand’s prosperous position in the occasion and wedding wear market.

The brand will continue to be led by Malhotra as Managing and Creative Director. Malhotra—a self-taught designer—finds her calling designing outfits for blockbuster Bollywood films. In a career spanning three decades, Malhotra has established himself as the premier costume stylist and luxury couturier of Hindi cinema.

“Manish Malhotra and Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) have announced a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the growth plans of the 16-year-old cottage-house in India and across the globe. RBL has invested for 40% minority stake in the brand named after founder and creative director, Manish Malhotra. This is the first external investment for the brand, which till now was held privately with the designer.”

Presently, Manish Malhotra has 4 flagship stores in the country apart from two shop-in-shops.

The move also marks a turnaround in RBL’s retail portfolio. After spending 14 years in bringing global premium and luxury western brands to India, RBL now wants to focus on domestic designer labels, it said.

“As the ensuing consumption power moves from west to east, the sensibility of fashion and design is not far behind. Recognizing these winds of change, RBL in its next wave of value creation, Indian The design is setting a vision towards homegrown talents rooted in sensibility.

Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), said, “The recognition and appreciation for Indian apparel globally is at a turning point and we are excited to partner with Manish in this journey. RRVL is the holding company of all the retail companies of the Reliance Industries Limited Group.

RBL which has over 60 brands – most of which are international – has a retail footprint of over 1,339 doorsteps divided into 595 stores and 744 shop-in-shops in India.

Its portfolio includes large-scale foreign brands such as Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Hamleys, Hugo Boss, Hankemöller, Iconix, Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade New York, Michael Kors, Steve Madden, Superdry, Scotch & Soda, Tiffany & Co., Tory Burch . among others.

Satya Paul is also a part of its portfolio. It has also been invested in the name label of Indian menswear designer Raghavendra Rathore.

Investment in Malhotra’s company – which sells expensive Indian apparel worn by the country’s rich and famous – to cater to the diaspora will require expansion in both India and overseas markets.

In addition to physical retail expansion, the partnership will work on building a strong technology backbone for the business while developing opportunities for omni-channel and experiential e-commerce.

Both said, “Malhotra’s brand has a significant cache of current and potential consumers in global fashion capitals and further plans include expansion in both India and international markets.”

Malhotra added that in future, the brand will come up with a much more diverse look and collection across multiple brackets. “We’re not going too pretty, sure, but keeping the essence of high luxury,” he said.

The pandemic has also disrupted the country’s fashion market – this is especially true for occasion and formal wear that leads to consolidation. Malhotra said consumers are more experimental and more inclined to express their individuality through their sense of style to give designers space to experiment.

FY20 rival Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Ltd acquired Jaypore, a crafts-based artisan brand, apart from investing in designer duo Shantanu and Nikhil, to tap into the occasion wear market. In FY21, ABFRL also invested in designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee apart from investing in Tarun Tahiliani’s label.

Malhotra said the corporate endorsement of fashion brands in India was long overdue.

“For organic fashion brands to grow, corporate support is essential, it has been proven all over the world,” Malhotra said in an interview with Mint.

Moreover, Indian ethnic wear remains attractive to companies as despite the popularity of western brands like Zara and H&M in India, a huge market for women’s wear still remains with ethnic wear brands.

India’s textile and apparel industry is worth $70 billion. According to industry estimates, within women’s wear, ethnic wear is the largest category – accounting for over 74% of the market share.

RBL Managing Director and CEO Darshan Mehta said the company is “continuously looking” for brands to partner with. “We bring technology, supply chain, real estate, access and reach and understanding of the market,” he said.