By Suneera Tandon, Mint | April 19, 2024
NEW DELHI: Agilitas Sports has acquired long-term licence rights to design, manufacture, and retail Italian sports brand Lotto in India, Australia, and South Africa from owner WHP Global.
Agilitas Sports is a sportswear and athleisure company founded by former Puma India and South-East Asia managing director Abhishek Ganguly.
"Through this 40-year licence agreement, we will build and implement state-of-the-art manufacturing, cutting-edge technology, and design innovation for Lotto for its product development, in addition to marketing and retailing of the brand. Agilitas will invest in a dedicated management team to grow the Lotto brand through product creation, design innovation, supply chain, branding, marketing, and channels of distribution," said Ganguly.
Agilitas will pay royalty for the licence, which would be a percentage of net sales, he said.
The move also marks the re-entry of Lotto in India.
Agilitas will distribute Lotto products through online channels, standalone brand outlets and shop-in-shops with retail partners. Lotto stores will roll out in India in early 2025. Agilitas will sell footwear, apparel, accessories, and sports equipment under the brand.
India's sports apparel market was worth $14 billion in 2020, and swelled 50% in three years to touch $21 billion by 2023, according to a report by brokerage Anand Rathi Investment. Overall, the size of the sports sector in India—comprising media rights, apparel, sports nutrition, sports equipment etc - is set to nearly quadruple to $100 billion by 2027 from $27 billion in 2020, the report said.
Several large global brands such as Nike, Skechers, Reebok, Puma, Adidas, and Decathlon already operate in the market.
Ganguly started Agilitas to plug the gap between manufacturing and retailing of sports goods, including footwear and apparel, in India.
Ganguly said the company will add more brands to its portfolio in the coming year with plans to have a portfolio of brands across price segments. "We will not be a one-brand platform but at least 2-3 brands. We want to build brands across the consumer pyramid—to be relevant with 100 million consumers. We will do this with 3-4 brands with different positioning and consumer offering. Next brand announcement will be via long-term licences," he added. More announcements could come in the coming year, he said.
Agilitas was started by Ganguly in 2023. In December last year, the company raised ₹100 crore from Nexus Venture Partners. It had earlier secured ₹400 crore in May from various funds managed by Convergent Finance LLP. Last year, the company also acquired sports footwear manufacturer Mochiko Shoes Pvt. Ltd. The deal paved the way for Agilitas to build a greater play in the sports manufacturing ecosystem in India.
Lotto will use Mochiko's dedicated factory in Noida to manufacture goods for the Indian market.
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