The Hindu Business Line : Arvind Mills gets US rights of Italian fashion denim brand

MR Sanjay Lalbhai of Arvind Mills is on a trans-Atlantic flight of different sorts. He has acquired the American rights of Italian designer denim brand, REDS.

Arvind Mills inked an agreement with RED 5, a company promoted by ace designer Mr Stephano Turk and his wife Ms Lynne, to acquire the brand rights in the North and South American markets, and is in the midst of rolling it out in the leading high-street retail stores across the US.

Mr Darshan Mehta, Head of Arvind Brands Ltd, an associate company, is spearheading Mr Lalbhai's move to create a niche in the exploding market for $100 plus designer denims in the US and in the rest of the Americas. REDS is a casualwear brand with a heavy accent on denim pants and will retail in the US stores at $180 onwards.

"The initial aim is to get the brand to the top 30 retail stores in the US, and position it to the right audience," Mr Mehta told Business Line.

REDS is the brainchild of denim-doting Mr Stephano Turk, a former Managing Director of Evisu, the Japanese cult-brand. He has also stylishly contributed to Guess Italia, Gap and Replay.

The primary appeal of REDS, manufactured on antique looms with extra-long staple Zimababwe cotton, is functionality with Mr Turk taking jeans back to the industrial workwear mould when it was worn more out of necessity than fashion. "REDS stands for de-glamourised vintage fashion in all its pervasiveness," Mr Mehta said.

Arvind has entrusted the marketing and public relations functions of the brand to a firm called Factory, which specialises in stealth and underground marketing.

Factory has been associated with some of the biggest successes in fashion business in recent years, like Seven Jeans.

Arvind has also appointed the Manhattan-based Block Dog 8 as the brand's booking agent, and will consider recruiting a small team of its own a couple of seasons down the lane, Mr Mehta said.

He said Arvind Mills and its Managing Director, the 50-year-old Mr Lalbhai, who always had a dream of selling a jean in the US, has been on the lookout for an opportunity to upscale its brand building skills at a global level.

"We were on the hunt for a brand such as REDS for over a year, and Arvind Mills has the larger investment appetite to take up a venture like this. Being a global player in fabrics and garments give several upsides to punt on," Mr Mehta said. "And when upsides come, they come in dollars," he added.

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