Chahar debuts brand for sports gear, shoes
The company’s sports line will feature cricket shoes, accessories, clothing, and more. It will operate under LCDC Athletics Pvt Ltd, with both the cricketer and his father, Lokendra Singh Chahar, serving as co-founders.
New Delhi: Cricketer Deepak Chahar has ventured into the world of sports gear, launching his own line, DNINE Sports, less than a year after introducing his fantasy sports app. Chahar will make an initial investment of ₹2.5 crore.
The company’s sports line will feature cricket shoes, accessories, clothing, and more. It will operate under LCDC Athletics Pvt Ltd, with both the cricketer and his father, Lokendra Singh Chahar, serving as co-founders.
Chahar told Mint that for now the company is not looking for any external capital and could potentially see a break even in its athletic shoes business within two years. It will also retail health supplements made by a third party, Weolive. Its shoes and other gear will be made through contract manufacturers in Rishikesh and Dehradun. “The idea is to create affordable products for young and upcoming athletes. A lot of young cricketers cannot afford to spend on good quality products, which can impact their game and even cause injury,” Chahar said.
The brand has sponsored some upcoming first-class cricketers and IPL players in the recently concluded season and plans to expand its support in upcoming seasons as well. It is already retailing its products, both online and offline.
Chahar appears to be following Virat Kohli who successfully set up a licensee brand ‘One8’ along with Cornerstone Sports LLP. Licensee brands are in the business of athleisure clothing, fragrances, footwear, restaurants and pubs.
Earlier this year, the cricketer, along with his wife Jaya Chahar had set up tech venture JCDC Sports Private Limited which runs Trade Fantasy Game. Jaya said the company has acquired about 70,000 organic subscribers. The duo had earmarked ₹5 crore for this venture and is deploying so gradually. The company also intends to add casual sports games to its portfolio now in the coming months. For this venture, it expects Ebitda positivity by 2026.While there are no overarching figures, Mint had reported earlier that by 2025, men’s and women’s casual-wear market in India is expected to touch $15 billion up from $7.7 billion in 2020. It is also estimated that the Indian footwear market was valued at ₹126 crore in 2022, according to business intelligence website Statista.
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First Published:20 Sep 2023, 12:15 AM IST
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