MUMBAI: India’s newly-appointed test series captain Shubman Gill has added designer shades to his flashy cricket gear, becoming Oakley’s latest brand ambassador in a partnership that promises to give Indian sport a serious style upgrade. The young batting sensation, known for his elegant stroke play and unflappable temperament, is now the face of Oakley’s Artifacts from the future campaign—his first foray into the eyewear game.
At 25, Gill has already established himself as one of cricket’s most promising talents, captivating fans with his consistency and composure under pressure. Now he’s set to captivate them with his choice of sunglasses too, joining an elite roster that includes football’s Kylian Mbappe, basketball’s Damian Lillard, and American football’s Patrick Mahomes II.
“I’m very excited to join Oakley, a brand that stands for performance, progression and passion – values that resonate strongly with mine.,” said Gill. “Oakley has been an integral part of my cricketing journey every time I took to the field. The innovative lens and frames technologies in every Oakley help enhance performance, and I love how unapologetically stylish they are!”
Oakley senior brand business manager Sahil Jandial was equally effusive about the partnership. “Oakley is firmly rooted in sports, and is one with the culture and community of athletes pushing the boundaries of performance. Shubman, with his relentless pursuit for perfection and progression, is a great embodiment of the Oakley spirit. I am confident this partnership will inspire millions to stay the course till they become the best version of themselves…. And onwards from there!”
The timing is spot-on for Oakley, which is marking its 50th anniversary with the launch of its futuristic “Artifacts from the future” collection. The range includes the Plantaris, described as “a high-wrap piece of future-facing art,” alongside the heritage-inspired Lateralis and the minimalist Masseter—names that sound more like Roman gladiators than sunglasses.
Oakley’s pitch is that these designs are “created for 2075 and delivered to 2025,” which is either brilliantly forward-thinking or the sort of marketing hyperbole that would make Don Draper blush. Either way, the California-based company, now owned by Luxottica, has built its reputation on innovation, holding more than 900 patents and establishing itself as the go-to brand for athletes who need to look good whilst performing exceptionally.
For Gill, the partnership represents more than just a commercial opportunity—it’s a chance to influence India’s youth beyond the cricket pitch. His journey from promising youngster to established international star and now test Captain for India mirrors Oakley’s own evolution from a small garage operation in 1975 to a global lifestyle brand.
The collaboration also reflects cricket’s growing commercial appeal, particularly in India where the sport commands massive audiences and generates enormous revenue. By aligning with one of the game’s stars, Oakley is betting that Gill’s influence extends far beyond the boundary rope.
Whether this partnership will inspire millions to “embrace their true selves and push beyond limits”—as the press release breathlessly claims—remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: in the increasingly style-conscious world of modern sport, looking the part is almost as important as playing it. And with Gill now sporting Oakley’s latest designs, cricket just got a little cooler.
MUMBAI: Eyewear just got a whole lot sexier. Shahid Kapoor has officially joined the Vogue Eyewear style squad alongside longtime face Taapsee Pannu, in a campaign that throws the rulebook out the window and invites fans to live loud, look sharp, and wear their vibe with no apologies.
In a film dripping with gallery-chic aesthetics and playful chemistry, Shahid and Taapsee bring to life the spirit of Vogue Eyewear’s ‘No Rules Club’—a movement that champions bold self-expression over boring convention. Think edgy frames, eye-popping colourways, and a clear message: be you, all the way.
“Style to me has always been about self-expression without boundaries. I’m excited to join Vogue Eyewear and to be part of its campaign, that encourages people to be themselves, unapologetically and without rules,” said Shahid Kapoor.
Echoing this spirit, Taapsee Pannu added, “Working with Vogue Eyewear has always been about embracing who I am — unfiltered and free”. She also shared her excitement about the collaboration in the new campaign, “Together we hope to inspire more people to own their style, their way.”
From cat-eye drama to metal-cool classics, the new collection has it all. Shahid’s picks lean sleek, with minimalist gold frames and industrial-edge details, while Taapsee rocks bold silhouettes, vibrant lenses, and chunky temples that scream high fashion with heart.
Hero pieces from the collection include: – Taapsee’s 0VO5637SU: retro cat-eyes in bold shades – Rs 5,890 – Shahid’s 0VO4322S: timeless square frames in luxe metal – Rs 7,090 – Taapsee’s 0VO5628: floral-detailed opticals with personality – Rs 5,990 – Shahid’s 0VO5617: faceted frames with fresh colour play – Rs 5,990
Prices range from Rs 3,090 to Rs 8,290 and are available at top stores and online platforms.
So whether you’re team bold or team understated cool, there’s a frame with your name on it. The only rule? There are no rules.
MUMBAI: Titan Eye+ has dialled up the smart quotient with the launch of Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses, now available at 50+ select stores across India. This slick new eyewear, merging Meta’s artificial intelligence with Ray-Ban’s iconic style, puts hands-free functionality right in your frame.
For those who love to stay connected without missing a beat, the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses pack a punch—voice-activated Meta AI assistance, hands-free photo and video capture with a 12MP camera, open-ear speakers for immersive audio, and instant connectivity for calls, messages, music, and even live streaming. Style has officially gone high-tech.
Titan Co Ltd eyecare division CEO NS Raghavan called the launch a game-changer. “We are thrilled to bring the Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses to India. As pioneers in smart eyewear, we aim to offer globally acclaimed brands that marry technology with fashion.”
This launch bolsters Titan Eye+’s already-robust smart eyewear portfolio, which includes the feature-packed Titan EyeX and the trendy Fastrack Vibes. Available in-store and online at www.titaneyeplus.com, the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses can also be snagged at a discount using Tata Neu reward points. Prices begin at Rs 29,900-odd for the basic model, and go up to Rs 35,700 for the transition AI glasses.
With India’s appetite for smart wearables on the rise, Titan Eye+ is putting the future of connected fashion right before your eyes.
Mumbai: With a robust presence across categories such as jewellery, eyewear, fragrances, accessories and Indian wear, Titan Company, which owns the famed watch brand under the same name, recently forayed into a new lifestyle category – handbags – with Irth.
The handbag market is home to various popular brands such as Lavie, Baggit, Peperone, Hidesign, Lino Perros, Da Milano, Ladida, Caprese, Esbeda, The House of Tara, Calvin Klein, Aldo, LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, Guess etc.
Based on the company’s research, the women’s bag category is approximately Rs 4,500 crore, whereas the organised market size is about Rs 1,600 crore. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the organised market is estimated to be around 13 per cent.
Close to 70 per cent of the organised women’s bag market in India is dominated by masstige brands catering to a price point of up to Rs 4,000; this is then followed by premium and luxury brands with a market share of about 30 per cent.
Priced economically between Rs 2,495 – Rs 5,995 to suit every pocket, Irth bags straddle the upper end of the masstige and premium segments.
Delving into Irth’s assortment, the brand has a product portfolio ranging from work bags, tall totes, shoulder bags, handhelds, slings, cross-body bags, clutches, and wallets. Delights and organisers are the categories unique to Irth.
Delights is a line of special bags. Many specific need-based bags today carry solutions but are not the most stylish. The Delights range is an evolving cluster starting with mom bags. Mom bags come with insulated milk bottle slots, changing mats, water repellent slots for soiled clothes, and can be hands-free with detachable straps to be hooked onto the stroller. There are many more little pockets to organise the little things of both the mom and the baby.
The detachable organisers cluster is here to make mobility styling organised. The launch pack comes in four different sizes, S, M, L and XL, based on the carrying needs.
The delight in Irth bags is the little features: padded shoulders, key holders, wire organisers, detachable sanitizer pouches, detachable pouches, etc., to keep your secret things secret and precious things safe.
The launch pack of Irth has a wide choice of 90 bags and four organisers in two colorways to choose from, each bag crafted with a deeper understanding of women’s journeys.
In a confab with Indiantelevision.com, Titan Company marketing head of fragrance and fashion accessories division Kanwalpreet Walia discusses the nuances of the brand, its future plans, and more.
Excerpts:
On the reason for coining a brand name such as Irth and the significance behind it
Irth intends to create long, meaningful relationships with its consumers, making their purchase process exciting and special. Suggestive of the brand’s name, Irth symbolises the care and attention applied to the product design and exemplifies the sense of wonder and emotion inherent in the brand.
On the opportunities that are waiting to be tapped in this category, and which Irth looks at catering to
Every woman today carries a bag and owns multiples. However, for this huge potential market, the existing solutions today are largely geared toward vanity. Titan sees potential in organised styling as a space that is unoccupied by anyone. Typically, a woman’s fancy-looking bag is a big jumble inside. Our concept is to provide a practical solution in which a woman organises her world inside a stylish bag.
Given the large loyal base of women consumers that Titan caters to, Irth is yet another endeavour to enhance her every day. A thoughtfully designed women’s handbag brand with a deep understanding of the consumer.
On positioning Irth as a brand designed with a deeper understanding of women and to elevate their every day
Irth’s positioning is to offer a thoughtfully designed bag with great Titan quality at a very affordable price range of Rs 2,500–6,000. So the customer value proposition is to get international-like premium quality that is very well designed at a far lower ticket price.
On the kind of revenues the brand is aiming for in the initial 5 years
We want to be experts in the women’s bag market in India while optimising all aspects of the value chain, from design to manufacturing, the supply chain, etc.
For now, we are following the right processes and building the brand from scratch, but our vision is to reach a milestone of Rs 1000 crores with the ladies’ handbag portfolio of two brands, Fastrack and Irth.
On the plans for retail and expansion of the brand
Right now we are present in irth.in, Shoppers Stop and Tata Cliq. We will soon have many more marketplace partners and also open exclusive brand outlets (EBOs) by the end of March 2024.
Our channel mix will be offline and online, both substantially penetrated, as bags as a category are an impulse and joyful purchase for many women, and we want to be with them wherever they shop.
On the kind of target group the brand is aimed at
We are hoping a lot of consumers sitting at mass and economy levels would upgrade to this. From a consumer segment point of view, we want to be a part of women who are on an active journey, women following their passion and pursuing their journey and seeking a solution. We also have different organisers depending on different bags. We have a delight range for mothers, and we are identifying other special needs with great functions and great looks.
From a communication target group point of view, we are thinking about 23 years and above, urban women.
On the advertising, marketing activities, and media mix planned for the brand
The launch campaign celebrates this live-and-let-live ethos, using warm language and nuanced, open-ended communication to drive home the brand idea. We respect the intelligence of the audience we are speaking to, and our bags are thoughtfully designed and filled with possibilities. It will always be theirs to define.
With the tagline “Yours To Define,” the brand adds meaning and value to every woman’s journey without any stereotypes. Irth bags are meant for the women of today to elevate their everyday. Irth bags are focused on both design and functionality.
Irth’s brand film brings alive the “Yours To Define” brand world. The beautiful frames capture the premium Irth bags in the best way, showing the many possibilities any active woman has with Irth bags.
The brand will also be launching feature films that will highlight the many nuances of functionality built into each Irth bag in the most stylish manner.
The aim at the moment is to create awareness while bringing alive the space of organised styling in the women’s bag industry. All the advertising and marketing efforts will be aligned to achieve this.
On the trends noticed in the handbag category
Women of today are doing a lot more, and there are countless possibilities packed into their days, thereby increasing demand for practical bags that are high on ergonomics and offer organising possibilities paired with great looks. Irth bags provide for this need! Irth bags organise her every day and make her journey joyful.
BENGALURU: For the past few quarters, Titan Company (Titan) jewellery business has been pulling down the company’s numbers. This quarter (Q2-2015 which ended 30 September 2014), this business under its jewellery distribution brands Tanishq and Goldplus from Tata showed an upsurge in retail sales by as much as 75 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively. Overall, as per Titan’s investor presentation, jewellery business witnessed y-o-y growth in net income of 64.8 per cent from Rs 1,777 crore in Q2-2014 to Rs 2,929 crore in the current quarter.
The company’s Total Income from Operations (TIO) went up 54.3 per cent in TIO to Rs 3593.07 crore in Q2-2015 from Rs 2328.97 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter and grew 24.3 per cent from Rs 2891.44 crore in the immediate trailing quarter Q1-2015.
Titan has three revenue segments – watches having the brands –Titan, Xylus, Nebula, Sonata and Fastrack and Zoop; Jewellery (the largest segment in terms of revenue and consequently profits) with Tanishq, Zoya, Gold Plus from Tata, Mia and Fq teen diamonds; and ‘Other’ such as eyewear under the Titan EYE+ brand, apparel and eyewear also under Fastrack brand and precision engineering among others.
Titan MD Bhaskar Bhat said, “This was an extra-ordinary quarter for the company and we witnessed an income growth of over 55 percent on account of an encouraging performance by all divisions, especially the jewellery business where the accounts of our Golden Harvest Scheme customers had to be closed based on regulatory changes. We have also seen an improvement in consumer sentiment in the second quarter and many of our brands ran successful activations to build on this sentiment and the festive mood. Gold prices have been stable and inflation is falling which would help in providing a lift to the economy. However, the coming quarter will have to be observed and tackled appropriately as some channels are beginning to report lower walk-ins. All our brands will invest in new campaigns in this quarter to improve our connect with the consumer.”
Titan’s Watches division has also done well in the quarter backed by successful activations for both Titan and Fastrack brands, says the company in its press release. A new brand campaign on ‘gifting of time’ went on air for Titan watches. The income for watches was Rs 527.46 crore in Q2-2015 as compared to Rs 439.07 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Other businesses of the company comprising Precision Engineering, a B2B business, the Eyewear business and accessories grew by 20.9 percent in Q2-2015 versus Q2-2014. The combined income of these businesses was Rs 137.90 crore in the current qaurter. Their last year income for Q2-2014 was Rs 114.03 crore.
The company has spent higher amount towards advertising (ASP) in Q2-2015 at Rs 105.83 crore (2.9 percent of TIO), which was 12.2 percent higher than the Rs 94.35 crore (4.1 percent of TIO) in Q2-2014 and 6.6 percent more than the Rs 99.25 crore (3.4 percent of TIO) in Q1-2015.
Over the 11 quarter period starting Q4-2012, Titan’s ASP shows an increasing trend in absolute rupee terms, but in terms of ASP as percentage of TIO, the trend shows a decline. Please refer to Fig A below.
During the period under consideration, the company’s highest ASP in absolute rupee terms was in Q3-2014 at Rs 118.04 crore (4.4 percent of TIO). This was the highest ASP in FY-2014. Q3-2013 ASP was also the highest in FY-2013 at Rs 108.76 crore (3.6 percent of TIO).
Also, during the period under consideration, the company’s highest ASP in terms of percentage of TIO was in Q1-2013 at 4.7 percent (Rs 103.44 crore). Historically, during the period under consideration, though Titan’s Q2-2013 TIO was higher than the TIO in Q1-2013, the company’s ASP had gone up in absolute rupee terms in Q3-2013, but was lower in terms of percentage of TIO as compared to both Q1-2013 and Q2-2013.
In Q1-2014, the company’s ASP was higher in absolute rupees at Rs 104.67 crore as compared to the Rs 94.35 crore in Q2-2014. However, in terms of percentage of TIO, Titan’s Q1-2014 ASP at 3.4 percent was lower than the 4.1 percent in Q2-2014 or the 4.4 percent in Q3-2014.
If the company wants to push towards record sales and profits in FY-2015, the chances of the company spending more towards advertising spends in Q3-2015 are quite high going by what Bhat has said in the company’s earnings release.
Y-o-y the company’s PAT improved 28.6 percent to Rs 239.98 crore in Q2-2015 from Rs 186.65 crore and went up by 35.4 percent from Rs 177.27 crore in Q1-2015. Please refer to Fig B below.
During the 11 quarter period under consideration, Titan’s PAT shows an upward trend in absolute rupee terms, but seems to have flattened out at about 7.2 percent of TIO, maybe could even decline fractionally.
