India’s leading fashion company, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited, has announced a strategic partnership with India’s ace designer Tarun Tahiliani to form a new entity that will soon launch a contemporary men’s ethnic wear brand.

The new brand will operate in the premium occasion wear segment and will offer the entire range of high quality, sophisticated celebration wear for men at accessible price points. The new brand aims to build a ₹500 crore business in the next five years with more than 250 stores across the country. The brand will launch the first set of retail stores by September 2021.

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ABFRL will hold 80 per cent stake in the new entity while Tarun Tahiliani will hold the remaining 20 per cent. As part of the deal, ABFRL will also acquire 33 per cent stake in the existing luxury couture business of Tarun Tahiliani, with the option to increase it to 51 per cent in the next few years. Wazir Advisors acted as exclusive advisor to Tarun Tahiliani in this deal.

Commenting on the partnership, Ashish Dikshit, Managing Director, ABFRL, said, “We believe that over the next few years, ethnic wear is going to be an important category as confident Indians rediscover their culture and heritage. Tarun Tahiliani has been at the forefront of the emergence of the Indian design industry. We are proud to partner with him to launch a new brand that gives the emerging Indian consumer a new range of celebration wear reflecting the unmatched, exquisite design excellence at more accessible prices. This partnership is in line with our stated strategy to craft a portfolio of brands that address the entire gamut of ethnic wear segments: value, premium and luxury.”

ABFRL has also made a foray into the branded ethnic wear through investments in Jaypore and Shantanu & Nikhil and recently announced a partnership with Sabyasachi.

As on December 31, 2020, ABFRL had a network of 3,157 stores and reached 6,835 point of sales in department stores across India. Last October, Walmart-backed Flipkart Group paid ₹1,500 crore for a 7.8 per cent stake in the retailer.

“Last year, we celebrated 25 years of the Tarun Tahiliani label. The next big leap for the brand was to take our craftsmanship and expertise and offer it to a larger Indian market that knows and values quality and is actively seeking it. I was clear that we needed a partner who could not just help us with this scale, but also have the same dedication to quality and the customer. And that could only have been the Aditya Birla Group,” said Tarun Tahiliani, Founder and CEO, Tarun Tahiliani Brand.