Asics plans to open brand stores in India after meeting 30% local sourcing requirement

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Mar 29, 2022

Sportswear brand Asics aims to open its first flagship store in India, in addition to its franchise outlets, and is working to meet the 30% local sourcing requirement to enable it to do so. 

The Japanese brand plans to gradually increase its local sourcing in India over the coming two years, The Hindu reported. Asics currently sources around 25% of its requirements in India for footwear and apparel and aims to increase this to between 27% and 28% in the 2022 calendar yearm followed by 30% in the 2023 calendar year. 
 
“Right now, we have 64 exclusive-retail brand outlets operated by the franchisees in different parts of the country,” Asics’ managing director for India and South Asia Rajat Khurana told The Hindu. “In order to open our own retail outlet, we should locally source 30% of raw materials. We are going step by step.”

Opening its own retail outlet in India will enable Asics to have its own dedicated space in which to display its products and will give it greater control over how they are displayed. The brand does plan to continue to open franchise stores across the country and aims to open 15 stores in 2022 with the south marked as a key market.
 
“Most of our outlets are in the north, followed by west and south. We will open our own retail outlets as soon as we reach 30% local sourcing clause,” said Khurana. “The number of stores, size, cities and investment will differ from state to state.”