Flipkart invests ₹260 cr in Arvind Youth Brands

Flipkart Group, one of India’s leading digital commerce entities, and Arvind Fashions Ltd (AFL), a leading casual and denim player, have strengthened their partnership through an investment of ₹260 crore by the Flipkart Group to purchase a significant minority stake in AFL’s recently formed subsidiary Arvind Youth Brands which owns the Flying Machine brand.
The investment builds on the long-standing engagement between the two organisations that have been working together for several years to address the demands and needs of the fashion-conscious youth in India, the two companies said in a joint press release.
An iconic Indian brand with a 40-year legacy, Flying Machine has been retailing on the Flipkart Group platforms—Flipkart and Myntra—for more than six years. A denim-first brand, Flying Machine is amongst the leading denim brands in India. With its brand legacy, design sensibilities and youth appeal, the brand is seen as a strong style partner across metros and smaller tier towns. Through this investment, the Flipkart Group and Arvind Fashions will work collaboratively to identify opportunities and synergies to innovate and develop products with strong value propositions at attractive price points.
“Flying Machine is a brand that is known in households across India, popular with the youth and synonymous with value and style. Through this investment, we look forward to partnering with the team at Arvind Youth Brands to continue to grow the market for its portfolio of products and enhance the strong brand equity that has been built over the last few decades,” said Flipkart Group chief executive officer Kalyan Krishnamurthy.
“The partnership with the Flipkart Group will help us accelerate our online growth strategy as we focus our efforts on developing an omni-channel retail approach for Arvind Youth Brands and Flying Machine. Given the strong existing relationship with the Flipkart Group, and their presence in online fashion, it was an obvious choice for us to enter into this engagement through which Flipkart and Myntra will be our preferred online partner for the Flying Machine brand, while we continue to grow our offline sales through channels like exclusive brand stores, department stores and multi-brand stores,” J Suresh, managing director and chief executive officer of AFL, said.