La Martina expects steady growth thanks to India's luxury boom

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 17, 2017

La Martina, a luxury fashion label from Argentina closely linked to Polo, currently predicts financial growth after launching in India in 2014. 

International expansion had always been part of La Martina’s strategy and, as they fall into the affordable luxury segment of the market, they have few direct competitors in India. Since launching physical stores in Delhi and Hyderabad, the brand has experienced annual growth of 20 to 25 percent per year and it is expected that this trend will continue. Both brick and mortar stores are franchised and each month delivers around 400 footfalls.

An increase in consumption, especially in the luxury goods industry, has created a favourable climate for brands such as La Martina. However, despite the labels financial gains, their professed lack of appropriate real estate to launch stores in has slowed down potential growth.

With 72 percent of the population being below the age of 32, previous statistics show that growth in the luxury market is inevitable as there is a greater proportion of young adults who do not yet have the responsibilities of their own family to budget for and so have more cash to spend on consumer non-durables. However, leveraging a profit can take time in India and Eliana Koulas, the director for Lexus Retail, the Indian franchisee for La Martina, stated that they are playing the long game and looking at a two-decade market.

The private company La Martina was founded in 1985 by Lando Simonetti and its headquarters reside in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The brand is the official supplier of the Argentinian Polo team and supplies Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge Universities.