Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) has bought 20 per cent stake in Hidesign. How did the deal come through?

Louis Vuitton wanted to set up a factory outside Europe and a team began travelling the world. They went everywhere from Italy to China and then came to India. When they reached Pondicherry last October-November, they saw the Hidesign factory and really liked it. They approached me for production but that wasn’t okay with me. Within a week, Yves Carcelle, president of Louis Vuitton, was back in my hotel Le Dupleix and dropped a bomb on me over breakfast. He asked me what would change my mind. Only two things would I said — if they would help me set up the factory, and secondly if they would help me build the Hidesign brand internationally. They simply offered to buy a 20 per cent stake in my company! We signed the deal two months ago. So Louis Vuitton’s first factory outside of France will be right here in Pondicherry. But let me make it clear — there is no mixing of brands. They are not producing for me and I am also not producing for them.

So how exactly are the two brands benefiting from the deal?

Well, they liked the idea of investing in our company, and for Hidesign it works because we have found a big brother! The LVMH deal will help us through our international branding.

And is there any technical collaboration?

Between Hidesign and Louis Vuitton, we have bought 30 acres of land in Pondicherry. This is about four km from my factory. We will help them with Indian know-how. We will set things up for them. We will also help them recruit and train. Basically, we will support them in setting up and running it.

And what is your roadmap to take Hidesign abroad?

Our biggest effort is to have a strong international presence. We want to establish Hidesign as an affordable luxury brand abroad. There are different categories of products and luxury is at the top end. Luxury is basically a very unprofitable area and out of the many brands only four of them — Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and Armani — make money. Within LVMH, Louis Vuitton is the only brand that makes serious money. The rest of the money comes from liquor sales.

In the affordable luxury arena, only Coach is raking in the profits. We want to position Hidesign in that category. It’s a big, big task if you’re not a known brand like Louis Vuitton already. So every country we go to, we have to build the brand individually, from ground zero.

What is Hidesign’s style story for the next season?

The next season’s style story greatly emphasises simplicity, but with detailed craftsmanship — no razzmatazz at all. The winter will have lots of pure whites and browns, and next spring will carry the white story forward. Browns will get lighter and white will get purer. Mink and red are the other two colours that will be seen.

Finally, has Ayesha (Dilip’s daughter who played the role of young Rani Mukerji in Black) decided to come back to Bollywood?

Ayesha gets film offers all the time but she is not interested in Hindi films. We are talking about a film on Kashmiri orphans. Let’s see what she decides…

What Indian brands do you think can make a mark in the international arena?
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