Kate Spade & Company and Reliance Brands Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Group, have announced plans to the bring the kate spade new york brand to India through a long-term distribution and retail license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Reliance Brands Limited will have the exclusive distribution rights to the kate spade new york brand in the country.
The newly formed partnership will leverage Reliance Brands Limited’s in-depth market expertise in India and the increasing global demand for kate spade new york products to establish a network of standalone stores across major Indian cities beginning later in 2016.
Leavitt said expanding into India is an important next step for Kate Spade & Company as it continues to progress along its geographic expansion axis of growth and build global brand engagement. With India’s rapid development and increasingly aspirational consumers, Leavitt said the company sees significant growth opportunities in the region in the long term.
“With India’s increasingly aspirational consumers, we see significant opportunities to build brand equity,” Kate Spade & Co. CEO Craig Leavitt said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “And although, we think, this is a modest short-term opportunity in-region, we believe building engagement with the Indian consumer will impact business in market such as Europe and Middle East as we grow.”
Leavitt said Reliance Brands is the ideal partner to help Kate Spade & Co. open standalone stores in India, given its experience and success launching premium brands. According to its LinkedIn page, Reliance Brands has eleven partnerships with U.S. brands. Six of them with Brooks Brothers, Diesel, Ermenegildo Zegna, Iconix, Paul&Shark and Quiksilver Group (Quiksilver, Roxy & DC) are joint ventures while the other five with Hamleys, Kenneth Cole, Steve Madden, Thomas Pink and Timberland are long term distribution/license partnerships.
“We look forward to working with Kate Spade & Company to bring the world of kate spade new york to India. We are confident that kate spade new york’s strong heritage and strong design point of view will resonate with Indian consumers, bringing a new dimension to the women’s wardrobe,” said Darshan Mehta, President and CEO of Reliance Brands.
Tim Parry is Multichannel Merchant’s Managing Editor, and the lead programmer for Growing Global.