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Sagar Malviya & Richa Maheshwari, The Economic Times

Mumbai/Bengaluru, 22 June 2016

Apparel brand US Polo crossed the Rs 1,000-crore sales mark in India in the fiscal ending March 31, less than five years after it entered the country, according to a top executive of the company. US Polo's fastpaced sales puts it in the same league as Zara, which became the biggest apparel brand in India within four years of setting up shop.

Zara now clocks over Rs 1,000 crore in retail sales here. In comparison, brands such as Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen and Benetton had taken nearly a decade to reach this mark.

"We caught the consumer trend with a fashionable but highly affordable brand," said J Suresh, managing director of Arvind Retail, which holds licence to sell the brand. "The iconic logo with two polo players on horses helped too. India is possibly fastest growing market by sales and stores addition."

Arvind Retail opened the first US Polo store in India in 2011 and has since added nearly 230 more. The 750-sq ft store at Select City Walk in Delhi on average rakes in Rs 225 per sq ft a day. Zara, on the other hand, makes on average Rs 150 per sq ft each day from the same mall, although from a bigger store.

According to Suresh, the company plans to open one US Polo store every week over the next few years as part of Arvind's broader push to grow its retail business. 

"Two factors have worked: they are more casual driven and less about fashion and second, they are a value international brand and well positioned on price, which appeals to wider audience," said Devangshu Dutta, CEO at Third Eyesight.

(Published in The Economic Times)