Indian celebrities now own brands that are their part profession apart from their business in the movies or sports industries. But a fact that stares us in the face is, is fame equated to success? This has held true for the entrepreneurial might that star-led brands might project but cannot deliver on. A range of Bollywood celebrities and sportsmen including Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan, Virat Kohli, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and many more have taken the business route alongside their famous careers. But only a few successes have emerged out of it and the rest have proven to be lacklustre projects.
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Brands such as Kay Beauty and HRX owned by Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan respectively are the rare successes in a market that has forgotten names of celebrity-owned brands such as Deepika Padukone's All About You, Sonam and Rhea Kapoor's Rheson, Anushka Sharma's Nush and many more.
Let us discuss the success stories out of the mixed bag of brands. Kay Beauty, helmed by Katrina Kaif and operated in ties with Nykaa, is a super hit. The brand claims to have more than 1.5 million consumers. As per Falguni Nayyar, Founder and Executive Chairperson of Nykaa, Kay Beauty is the third most searched brand on the platform and among their top three in stores. It is further expected to grow at a 62 percent growth rate.
Another hit is Hrithik Roshan's co-owned fitness brand HRX, that has seen 5x growth and has even crossed the Rs 1,000 crore revenue mark. This is despite the fact that it competes with the likes of Nike, Puma, Decathlon and more which are mainstream global sports labels.
But with the big wins come the losses too; such Virat Kohli's youth fashion label WROGN, which announced that their revenue dropped by 29.2 percent from Rs 344.3 crores in the financial year 2023. It has further fallen to Rs 243.75 crore in the financial year 2024.
Another miss is Deepika Padukone's skincare brand 82 Degree East, which recorded a slight growth in revenue, amounting to Rs 11 crore from the financial year 2023 to 2024, which now values the business at Rs 22.82 crores. But it still suffers an overall loss of Rs 25.1 crore in the same timeline.
Alia Bhatt-owned kids clothing label Ed-a-Mamma recorded a 4x revenue increase in the financial year 2022. A majority of its stakes have recently been bought by Reliance Retail.
| This just brings us to the realisation that while Kay Beauty and HRX have carved out a niche for themselves because of a clear brand identity, alignment with the celebrity image, product quality and more; brands like WROGN, 82 Degree East, Ed-a-Mamma and more have not been able to replicate those successes despite initial buzz because of an over saturated market. To sum things up, Indian celebrity owned brands are a mixed bag of successes and failures. Also Read: Hailey Bieber Soon To Join Beauty Biz Alongside Halsey, Jennifer Lopez |
