Spanish brand Adolfo Dominguez enters India

Feb 18, 2011

Spanish fashion brand Adolfo Dominguez will set up 25 exclusive stores in India over the next five years, three of which will open this year. The mid-market to premium brand has tied up with Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail Group, which will spend up to Rs 50 crore to expand the brand's retail presence. The brand launched its first store in Delhi on Thursday, spread over 35,000 sq ft. The second one is likely to open in Gurgaon, while the third store will open in Mumbai.

"Next on the agenda will be spreading across tier I and II cities depending on the initial feedback. We are looking at expanding at the rate of two to three stores every year," said business head international brands, Wadhawan Lifestyle, Abhinav Zutshi.

The 174.32-million Adolfo Dominguez is positioning itself as an affordable luxury brand in India where the merchandise starts from a price point of Rs 2,500 for a T-shirt and goes upto Rs 45,000 for exclusive gowns. It will initially retail its menswear line, women's wear and youth collection. Later, it plans to introduce its home furnishing line, plus-size fashion line, kids' wear and pet's wear collections.

Zutshi said the brand would introduce its new collections in India at the same time as they are unveiled globally. "The offerings by most international brands in India are a season or two behind their global launch. For today's fashion conscious globetrotters, this is a deterrent as they don't want to shell out money on outdated fashion," he added.

"Adolfo worldwide makes very limited editions of each design. We would like to offer exclusivity to Indian audiences as well," said Tiziana Dominguez, creative director of Adolfo Dominguez, and daughter of founder-designer Adolfo Dominguez.

The brand expects to break even within this year itself in India. "Many of our stores break even within nine months and we are expecting the same here," said Tiziana. At present 75 per cent of Adolfo's global turnover comes from Spain while 25 per cent comes from outside. The company targets 50 per cent of its sale to come from outside Spain by 2015 and 80 per cent in 2020.