Online retailer Nykaa Fashion has launched a new athleisure and activewear range under Nykd brand.

The Nykd All Day range will sell basic T-shirts, joggers, sports bras and tank tops. The range will be sold under Nykaa Fashion -- the multi-brand e-commerce's fashion offering. Through this expansion, Nykaa aims to introduce clothing that focuses on comfort and inclusivity and can seamlessly transition from at-home wear to stepping-out attire.

The new Nykd All Day range will be available on Nykaa.com, the Nykaa Fashion website, and app as well as the Nykaa Fashion store at Ambience Mall, New Delhi. Nykd by Nykaa was launched in October 2020 and already sells lingerie and sleepwear. With Nykd All Day, the brand has now expanded its portfolio to over 230 offerings across lingerie, sleepwear, athleisure, leisure, and activewear.

Nykaa started out as a beauty retailer and expanded its offerings in the fashion and accessories market. It has over 17 million monthly active users, apart from over 70 offline stores. It retails over 2,500 brands through its website, app, and stores. Nykaa Fashion, Nykaa’s apparel and accessories offering retail via a website and an app.

Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant controlled by Walmart Inc., plans to launch an IPO by the fourth quarter of this year.

As per Bloomsberg report, the U.S. retail giant has set up an internal IPO team for Flipkart and is leaning toward a traditional debut in the US. Flipkart had explored going public through a blank-check company to speed up the listing process, but that route is not under consideration now, one of the people said. The startup’s valuation could top $35 billion as it goes public.

Saroj Panigrahi, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. attorney hired by Flipkart in December, is driving the IPO process. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are in discussions with the company about advising on the deal and are frontrunners to be formally selected.

Womenswear brand Ritu Kumar has launched a new loungewear brand ‘Label Basics’ featuring minimal separates and neutral toned kurtas. The range offers simple and thoughtful designs for stay at home shoppers. It features T-shirts, loose dresses, kurtas, and sets and is a part of Ritu Kumar’s subsidiary Label Ritu Kumar.

Amrish Kumar, Managing Director of the label says, as comfort and function are now being accepted as attributes of work and public clothing, the brand aims to make its business models more agile and accommodate these transitions.

Prior to this, Ritu Kumar launched an affordable occasion and casual wear brand Aarké. Her designs focus on natural fabrics and traditional printing and weaving techniques. She has also included Western elements in her work, but has generally not innovated beyond traditional sari designs. Her clothes have been worn by celebrities such as Princess Diana, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Madhuri Dixit Nene, etc.

The merger of group companies with itself will increase Lux Industries’ consolidated revenue to Rs 1,800 crore. Profit after tax of the consolidated unit of Lux Industries would increase to Rs 177 crore from the present Rs 122 crore. The current revenue of the company is Rs 1,210 crore.

Eearnings per share of the consolidated firm would go up to Rs 58.8 from Rs 48.8 currently. Ashok Todi, Chairman says, merger will accelerate the company’s single market strategy and single company brand image through merger of J M Hosiery, which deals majorly in the men’s brand GenX and merger of Ebell Fashions, which deals largely in the women’s brand Lyra.”

Todi says, merger enables them to increase their share in overall wardrobe spending by offering a value-added product in mid-economy and mid-premium price category. Incorporated in 1995, Lux Industries has a market share of 14-15 per cent of the organized men’s innerwear industry.

Delhi-based start-up Advertising & 360◦ Marketing Agency Poppy Seed Communication has integrated the operations of Indian fashion brand V-Mart Retail. The entire operations for the brand will be carried out from the agency’s Delhi office, led by Ashwani Dhingra, Director and Founder, Poppy Seed Communication.

V-Mart Retail, founded in 2002 is a successful affordable-fashion brand, looking to facilitate India’s budget buyers of fashion, with a record of more than 3 crore satisfied customers. The retail chain offers a range of apparel, footwear and accessories for women, men and kids, home furnishing, merchandise, and home utility items. In 2018, V-Mart Retail won the “World’s Best Performing Departmental Store” (Bloomberg). In 2019, it also won “Transforming India Through Retail” award and “Transforming Lives in Tier II and III Cities” by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. V-Mart Retail has also been ranked as the 16th best performing retail chain recently by Fortune India as well. In addition, the organization is also a certified “Great Place to Work”.

Payal Singh, Digital Head & Co-founder, Poppy Seed Communication, said, it is a great opportunity for us as veterans in a start-up, to bring to the table power-packed ideas and strategies that further empower the Indian fashion market.

Brand Ampm by Ankur and Priyanka Modi has created a new video series called Art-i-culate in collaboration with a group of artists’ to showcase their work and launch the brand’s latest collection. The first video of the series features potter Karuna Reddy who spins a pottery wheel while wearing a rust-hued tunic. The film reflects Aārthai’s nuanced aesthetics. Other artists who feature in the series include filmmaker Guneet Monga and actor Sayani Gupta. The series also features a painter and a filmmaker

Ampm takes the fashion film concept and adds an informative twist as artists showcase their practice while wearing pieces from Ampm’s spring/ summer 2021 collection ‘Aārthai’. Specializing in women’s wear, New Delhi Ampm retails across India and internationally in countries including Italy, Russia, the US, and UK among others.

Rishi Vasudev, CEO, Landmark Group has resigned from his position with March 31, 2021 being his last working day in the company.

Vasudev has held important roles across various fashion merchandising companies in the past, namely, Former fashion Head Fashion - Flipkart & Myntra, former CEO – Lifestyle, Home Centre, and Calvin Klein India. He also served as Senior Vice President and CEO for Arrow, Arvind Brands, leading Arrow to become a leading lifestyle brand.

Having completed his BTech from NIT Kurukshetra and MBA from MDI Gurugram, he is now to turn an entrepreneur and is raising capital for his new venture. He is a veteran in the retail and fashion industry, with well over 21 years of experience.

The company will announce his successor in due course. In the interim, Kabir Lumba, CEO, Designate and Group Director, Landmark Group, will be managing the responsibilities, in addition to his current role within the Landmark Group,” the company said in a statement.

The company, which started with its first Lifestyle store in Chennai in 1999, has 400 stores today under the Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max & Easybuy brands in more than 130 cities, employing more than 17,000 people.

Myntra is now the official fashion partner for Royal Challengers Bangalore, for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. Myntra will create fashion content stories for the T20 franchise besides expanding its app with various offerings.

Myntra and RCB will also create about 150 engaging videos for die-hard fans of the game under four broad themes, which will be released on RCB's social channels. This content collaboration will allow Myntra to give RCB fans a peek into the lives of their favorite cricketing icons, such as their fashion choices and various other preferences.

Additionally, Myntra will collaborate with RCB on five bespoke quirky fashion content pieces for their digital properties. The videos will be available across two of the key RCB’s digital properties, RCB Insider and RCB Bold Diaries, featuring ‘Mr. Nags’ and various other Marquee players of the team.

Kishore Biyani, Founder and CEO, Future Group, believes retailers’ digital first strategy will help drive sales post-COVID-19, impacting consumers shopping habits. Biyani says a heightened sense of hygiene and comfort will drive consumers to shops. Marketers would need to focus on building their customers’ trust and last-mile delivery, he added.

Elaborating on his group’s two-hour delivery service, Biyani said, the service has begun in Mumbai, Delhi-National Capital Region, and Bengaluru, and will soon take it to cities such as Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai. In the next two-three months, the company also plans to launch an FMCG brand called Smartsters under Future Consumer. The brand will focus on packaging and product innovations, informed Biyani adding that the company is also working on a fashion brand. The company’s plan to bring 7-Eleven stores to India has currently been deferred due to pandemic.