Ed Hardy, the famous international high street apparel brand with a unique point of difference launched in India three years ago has been extremely well-accepted by consumers. The brand was a line developed by the South Californian tattoo superstar Don Ed Hardy in association with couturier Christian Audigier. In India, the global brand was brought in by Wadhawan Lifestyle Retail (WLRPL). According to Abhinav Zutshi, Head of International Brands at WLRPL, the company was established with a single minded vision of introducing global high-end fashion brands, relevant to the Indian consumer. It will continue to focus on introducing more premium and super-premium brands along with expanding operations of their existing brands to strengthen its presence in the country. To prove his point, Zutshi says, “We have recently launched the first Spanish designer label, Adolfo Dominguez in Delhi, which bridges the gap between luxury and premium market in India. We will continue to identify brands in new categories and offer them to the Indian market.”
The Ed Hardy collection is known for embroidery, washing, splash-ink and other techniques, creating a feeling of decadence and extravagance, combined with popular tattoos like the tiger, skeletons, demons, daggers, and nudes, etc. It can be said the superb experience in design and color composition of Ed Hardy, makes a simple T-Shirt become designer wear.
The spring/summer 2011 collection focuses on pastel colors in both men’s and women’s apparel. The women’s collection takes on a more casual approach highlighting asymmetrical flare tops and tees, specialty tanks in tie and dye, lace detailing on tees and leggings. The collection also focuses on capris, knickers and shorts. The men’s collection this season introduces a range of basic colored tees with embroidered tattoos. The rest of the collection is divided into two themes; one has a very vintage, military feel with a lot of discharge prints, crystal work and flock printing, the other is a nautical theme with heavy enzyme washes, sailor prints and stripers.
Globally, Ed Hardy has close to 200 categories, however so far in India it has introduced Ed Hardy apparels for men and women, kid’s apparels, shoes, bags, sunglasses along with extensive range of accessories that includes sunglasses, watches, belts, caps, computer peripherals and mobile accessories. Ed Hardy currently has 10 stores across India, out of which four are EBOs and six are shop-in-shops. These are in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gurgaon, Jalandhar, Kolkata and Mumbai. Currently, the EBOs contribute 80 per cent of their business.
In the coming years WLRPL plans to open more stores across different formats, as consumers are getting fashion conscious and their high disposable incomes allow them to avail premium brands easily. WLRPL’s focus will primarily be North India and untapped markets in south and west, as it has a high level of brand awareness amongst consumers.
