US-based Wolverine Brands, having forged an equal joint venture (JV) with Tata International, plans to leverage the retail and real estate expertise of the Tata group. To begin with, the brand Cat (a global licensee from Caterpillar Inc.) with its range of footwear, apparel and accessories, is doing a pilot at the Westside store (owned by Tata Group company Trent) at Infinity mall in Mumbai. The brand would be visible at more Westside stores at select locations across the country.

Tata International and Wolverine World Inc. had forged an equal JV in June 2012 to form Tata International Wolverine Brands Ltd. Wolverine Worldwide is a marketer of casual, active lifestyle and outdoor shoes and apparel and is also a licensee holder for brands such as Cat, Harley Davidson and Patagonia. Tata International is a manufacturer, exporter and supply chain integrator of leather products. It also retails footwear and leather articles under the Tashi brand in India.

Sanjay Mehra, Managing Director, Tata International Wolverine Brands, said, “There are going to be multiple benefits through the Tata Group in areas such as manufacturing, retail, supply chain, IT and real estate.” Besides, there would be significant increase in local manufacturing at Tata International’s several manufacturing facilities across places such as Chennai and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh).

Rentals

In fact, just like the Tata Group is helping coffee chain Starbucks in locating real estate across the country, Wolverine Brands would avail similar benefits. As Mehra says, “Since Tata owned Westside stores are already anchor tenants, it has developed relationships with mall developers. This association would help in getting the preferred location and rentals since the Tata Group can exercise its pricing power to negotiate rentals.”

With its presence across 200 countries, Wolverine Brands is now eyeing India as a big market. “We are going to be here for the long term and view India as a top strategic market. In fact, the company has also identified India as one of its big sourcing centres,” added Mehra.

Apart from Cat footwear and apparel, Wolverine Brands is getting ready to unleash almost 16 brands from its portfolio such as Harley Davidson, Patagonia, Merrel, Wolverine, Keds, Stride Rite and Sperry Top-Sider. Most of these are primarily footwear brands.

For Cat footwear and apparel, it has decided to distribute the brand through platforms such as standalone stores, multi-brand outlets and online sales partners such as Myntra .com.

“We are also looking at institutional sales and dedicated spaces inside retail stores. In future, we would be entering e-commerce through our own Web site,” said Mehra.

Purvita@thehindu.co.in

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