Force IX, an apparel brand by Bollywood celebrity Akshay Kumar can have 200 stores in the next few years. The brand opened its first and flagship store in Khar, Mumbai. Akshay said the plan is to open nine exclusive stores in next 8 months.
Akshay Kumar recently partnered with Mandhana Industries to launch this brand.
Three months ago, Akshay announced the launch of his apparel label, Force IX, and a select athleisure line was made available on the e-commerce platform Myntra.
The Bollywood star said that the brand will have the kind of clothes he likes to wear. It is very much inspired by the Indian armed forces. Each piece of clothing and style is done by the actor personally. “It’s not just a business thing, it’s a part of me. We will start with athleisure and will add other categories,” he quoted.
The brand has a CSR initiative also as out of every product sold, Rs. 9 will go to ‘Bharat Ke Veer’, a trust created by the Ministry of home affairs and supported by Kumar, for the support of families of martyrs of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
This is not the first time that Kumar has dabbled in the apparel business. He first had the idea to start the same 12-13 years back. But this time, he said he has found the right partner in Manish Mandhana JMD, Mandhana Industries.
“I tried, and invested money, but I was not happy with the kind of clothes they were coming out with 12-13 years ago. So, before starting it, I completely shut it down. When I met Manish and his team, they are all young lads, and very deep into it. They know the business and with my experience, we decided to start Force IX,” he said.
Mandhana Industries has also partnered with Salman Khan for the Being Human apparel line.
The company owns 10 production units and has 4700 employees across offices in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Paris.
