Adidas Originals to step up expansion in India

German sportswear major Adidas is stepping up expansion for its sports fashion and lifestyle brand 'Adidas Originals' in India with plans to have up to 20 exclusive stores by the end of the year.

The company is toying with the idea of bringing one of its global brand ambassadors out of footballer David Beckham, singers Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj to India to push the label, apart from looking to sign up an Indian personality as the face of Adidas Originals in the country.

"Globally, Adidas Originals is very large and a strong brand. In India also we are pushing to grow it further. By the end of the year, we will have 20 exclusive stores of the brand, up from the current nine outlets," Adidas India Director (Sports and Marketing) Tushar Gokuldas told PTI.

Besides, Adidas Originals products are also retailed from 50 stores out of the 600 Adidas Performance outlets across the country.

"Out of those 50 stores, 20 are shop-in-shops. We are also looking to increase the number of Adidas Originals shop-in- shops to around 60," he added.

The company's focus will also include some cities in the North East like Aizawl, Shillong, Siliguri apart from the major metros, he added.

On the company's plans to push the brand, Gokuldas said: "The idea is to connect with the youth more. We are going to build a large number of young 'Originals' brand ambassador in the age group of around 18-20 years from different creative fields in India. We will take the idea beyond cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore."

When asked if the company could hire an Indian personality to be the face of Adidas Originals, he said: "Yes, we are looking for someone, who has the right attributes of having the style quotient and being edgy, someone who is from the creative field, be it films, music or others."

On the possibility of bringing a global brand ambassador of Adidas Originals to create more awareness in India, Gokuldas said: "The effort is always there. We look at different ways to grow the brand and having one of our global brand ambassadors here is also a part of it."

He said the company is trying to bring designer Jeremy Scott to India later this year.

Adidas had recently launched the Adidas Originals limited edition Jeremy Scott collection across India with price range from Rs 10,000 up to Rs 17,000.

"The response to the Jeremy Scott collection has been really encouraging and we are confident that the brand will really do well here in India," Gokuldas said.