Arvind Limited is one of India's largest integrated textile and apparel companies with a strong retail presence and a pioneer of denim in India. Arvind has an unmatched portfolio of owned and licensed
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brands and retail formats. The company's own product brands include Flying Machine, Colt, Ruggers, Excalibur amongst others while its licensed product brands have big global names like Arrow, Gant, Izod, Elle, Cherokee, US Polo Assn. to name a few. It has a joint venture in India with global major like Tommy Hilfiger and GAP. It also has retail brands like Megamart, The Arvind Store, Club America, Next and Debenhams.
The company's principal business consists of manufacturing and marketing of Denim Fabric, Shirting Fabric, Shirts, Knitted Fabric and Garments. The company has production facilities at Ahmedabad, Mehsana, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Pune in Maharashtra and Bangalore in Karnataka.
Arvind Ltd was incorporated in the year 1931 as Arvind Mills Ltd by three brothers Kasturbhai, Narottambhai and Chimanbhai. In the year 1934, they established themselves amongst the foremost textile units in the country. They are first company to bring globally accepted fabrics such as Denim, yarn dyed shirting fabrics & wrinkle free gabardines to India in the year 1986.
In the year 1987, they started retail outlets for 'Arrow' brand and became the first company to bring international shirt brand 'Arrow' to India. The company joint venture includes their technical and marketing alliance with F M Hammerie Von-Ogensver Waltungs, Austria, the US based Alamac Knit Fabrics & Spinners and Webexi Dict Turt, Switzerland. Arvind Mills in 1985 has diversified into electronics by setting up a plant to manufacture electronic telephone exchanges (EPABX). They also entered into marketing pharmaceutical products and B&W and colour television sets under the name Pyramid.
During the year 2001-02, the company increased the number of Spindles and Stitching Machines by 2036 Nos and 38 Nos respectively. In the next year, they further increased the number of Stitching machines by 7 Nos. During the year 2003-04, the company expanded their shirts manufacturing capacity from 2.4 million pieces to 4.8 million pieces per annum. During the same year, their subsidiary company, Arvind Spinning Ltd commenced their operation.
In March 2005, the company commenced their operations of producing Jeans Pant in Bangalore with the installed capacity of 4 million Pcs per annum. During the year 2005-06, new Denim collection was launched which was aimed at the Super Premium brands of the USA, Europe, Japan & Korea. The response to this collection was good and they have opened new venues for the Denim division.
The company demerged and transferred the Garments Business Division of their 100% subsidiary company, Arvind Brands Ltd and amalgamated Arvind Fashions Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Arvind Brands Ltd with themselves with effect from April 1, 2006. Also The company has a joint venture company namely Arvind Murjani Brand Pvt Ltd, through which they hold license to sell Tommy Hilfiger brand apparel in India.
The operations of Arvind Brands Limited and their subsidiaries were merged with the Company with effect from April 1, 2006. The wholesale branded apparel business of Arvind Fashions Ltd has been sold to VF Arvind Brands Pvt Ltd with effect from August 31, 2006.
In March 2008, the company signed an exclusive license agreement with The Philips-Van Heusen Corporation for designing, distribution and retailing of IZOD brand apparels in India. From May 2008, the company's name was changed from Arvind Mills Ltd to Arvind Ltd so as to accurately reflect the multi-faceted nature of the organization.
In 2010, The Arvind Store was set up to house the best brands of Arvind under one roof. The store offers the entire range of the company's fabrics and apparel. The store also offers the services of Studio Arvind, the bespoke tailoring unit.
On 25 September 2010, Arvind announced its decision to set up a 30 million meters of denim manufacturing plant in Bangladesh with a total investment of $60 million. The plant will be set up in joint venture with Nitol group of Bangladesh. Nitol group will have 20% stake in the joint venture company.
In 2011, Arvind brought some of the biggest global fashion brands like Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Ed Hardy, Hanes, Nautica and Elle to India.
On 2 November 2011, Arvind announced that it has divested its minority stake of 40% in VF Arvind Brands Private Limited (VFABPL) to VF Mauritius for Rs 257 crore. VFABPL which is engaged in marketing products under the brands Lee and Wrangler was formed in September 2006 with 60:40 shareholding between VF Mauritius and Arvind. Arvind had invested Rs 5.47 crore in the capital of the joint venture company.
On 27 September 2012, Arvind's subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle Brands announced the acquisition of the business operations of British fashion retailers Debenhams and Next and American Lifestyle brand Nautica in India from Planet Retail. The acquisition of Debenhams signals the entry of Arvind into the Bridge to Luxury Department Store Segment. Arvind will enter into the fast growing segment of apparel specialty retail through Next stores. The licensing agreement with Nautica will strengthen Arvind's already strong position in high potential sportswear segment.
In 2014, Arvind Envisol, a subsidiary of the company, which provides waste water treatment solutions, got a global patent for its Polymeric Film Evaporation Technology (PFET). This revolutionary technology saves 80% energy cost for Envisol's Zero Liquid Discharge water treatment system.During the year 2014, Arvind launched custom clothing brand Creyate. Creyate offers fine, bespoke menswear with a degree of customisation never seen before.
In 2015, Arvind partnered with USA-headquartered Invista, the owner of the Lycra fibre brand, to manufacture stretch denim fabric in India. Also during the year, the company launched denim fabric Khadi Denim. Also during the year, Arvind collaborated with the world's largest internet giant and the world's most renowned denim brand to launch wearable denim technology and smart denim jackets. Arvind also launched a 4-in-1 smart shirt in collaboration with Arrow.
In 2016, Arvind Fashion Brands tied up with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar to launch True Blue, a menswear label that embodied the spirit of the global Indian. Also during the year, Arvind launched Nnnow.com, a one-stop shopping destination for trendsetters across the country.On 25 October 2016, Arvind announced its decision to raise about Rs 740 crore by diluting 10% stake in its brand business arm, pegging its enterprise value at Rs 8000 crore. The entire stake will be picked up by Multiples, the Private Equity firm founded by Renuka Ramnath.
In 2017, Arvind launched its own Ready-To-Wear brand. On 17 October 2017, Arvind signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat state government to establish a mega apparel factory in the state. The Rs 300-crore project in Dahegam will produce over 24 million garments once it is fully operational.
On 8 November 2017, Arvind Limited, India's largest textile and branded apparel player, announced its decision to demerge its Branded Apparel and Engineering businesses from the parent company. The Branded Apparel business will be demerged into the entity Arvind Fashions Limited. Shareholders of Arvind Limited will be entitled for 1 equity shares of Arvind Fashions Limited for every 5 shares held by them. The Engineering business will be demerged into an entity which will be named Anup Engineering. This business is engaged in the manufacturing of critical process equipment. Shareholders of Arvind Limited will be entitled for 1 equity shares of Anup Engineering Limited for 27 shares held by them. On completion of the process, both the companies will be listed on BSE and NSE.
On 21 March 2018, Adient (NYSE: ADNT), the global leader in automotive seating, and Arvind Limited announced the formation of Adient Arvind Automotive Fabrics, a joint venture that will develop, manufacture and sell automotive fabrics in India. Adient Arvind Automotive Fabrics will be based in Ahmedabad, India, where it will manufacture high-end performance fabrics for automotive seating systems at a world-class fabric manufacturing facility. The joint venture will benefit from synergies between Adient and Arvind, each bringing industry-leading technology and design capabilities in their respective fields. Adient will be the majority stakeholder in the new company with a 50.5% stake.
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