Christy, a 174-year-old British brand that has been supplying face and bath towels to Wimbledon Championships for almost four decades, will launch a range of luxury products in the Indian market early 2025.
“We are on this journey of making Christy a brand that is modern and relevant to the young customer. Currently, Christy is only present in the UK and Middle East and we just launched in the United States. We are launching in India next year,” said Vanshika Goenka Misra, CEO of Christy, a global brand of Welspun Living that acquired the heritage British brand in 2006.
“The products that will be launched in India next year will be part of our luxury segment. Earlier, there was some skepticism about the Indian market being price-sensitive and if Christy will fit in such a market. Today, the Indian customer has the appetite. They have evolved and are armed with global sensitivity and taste,” Misra who heads the brand told businessline during her visit to Ahmedabad. The average price of a bath towel sold under the Christy brand in the UK costs in excess of ₹3,200.
About 60-70 per cent of the bath products and 50 per cent of the beddings that will be launched in India will be manufactured here. The rest will be imported through Christy’s global supply chain in Portugal and Turkey. “We want to keep the same assortment that we have globally. We will not be compromising on our quality and the products that will be made available in the Indian market will be the same as those available overseas. We will launch our products through all the luxury online platforms operating in India and within a year or two, we will think of having a physical store for our products,” she said, adding that Christy will enter India with bath towels, beddings and clothes.
Misra said that Christy is the top of the pyramid of all home textiles brands under the Welspun Group. “The brand for the masses is Welspun, the premium brand is Spaces and the luxury brand will be Christy,” she added. Christy entered the American market in September 2024. “We have launched on the East Coast and we are selling through our own website and warehouse. We will be expanding further in the US,” Misra said. The Christy brand has been registering a 30 per cent year-on-year growth. “We are in the process of premiumising the brand. We are increasing prices,” she added.
Christy & Wimbledon
The Christy brand sells hand, face and bath towels to Wimbledon. In 1988, the brand became the official towel manufacturer and supplier for Wimbledon Championships and these towels are now being manufactured at Welspun’s facility in Vapi in South Gujarat. “We are working on increasing our business with Wimbledon. One way of growing is by expanding the merchandise mix. This year we introduced the toad bag where we used 200-300 left-over terry towels from last year’s championships. These bags were sold out within two days.”