Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) has said it is acquiring the online and offline rights of American fast-fashion brand ‘Forever 21’ in the Indian market, third time the US fashion brand is changing its India partner.
“The board of directors of ABFRL today in-principally approved a proposal to enter into a Binding Memorandum of Understanding with Forever 21 to acquire its exclusive online and offline rights to the global brand – Forever 21, for the Indian market and its existing store network in India from the current franchisee,” Aditya Birla Fashion in a statement said.
Currently a joint venture between DLF Brands and the US company operate 10 brick-and-mortar and the company sells online through fashion portal Myntra. It is unclear what happens to the Myntra online partnership once Aditya Birla Fashion signs deal with Forever 21 that involves both offline and online rights for India.
Forever 21, a fashion brand targeted at teens and young adults, entered India half a decade ago and has changed a partner already before tying up with DLF Brands. Analysts said the DLF Brands-Forever 21 join venture hasn’t been able to scale up its business like global rivals such as Spanish brand Zara. Flipkart-owned online fashion store Myntra was also in advanced talks to manage the local retail chain of Forever 21.
