How Style Quotient is pulling Gen Y through licensing?

Being Human – The Salman Khan Foundation has tied up with Style Quotient Jewellery Pvt. Ltd. to launch an enthralling range of fine diamond Jewelry. 20 per cent of all the Jewelry will cater to men. In a candid discussion with Gargi Bhardwaj of License India, Prasad Kapre, the CEO and Director of Style Quotient shared details about the licensed jewelry range.

Talk to us about the recent deal with Being Human Foundation.

Style Quotient is primarily into silver jewelry and licensing. We have already done a pendant for the movie Bajrangi Bhaijan. This agreement was a natural fit into Style Quotient. We will be the global licensee for Being Human jewelry under which we will manufacture, retail and distribute and market the entire range. These lightweight differentiated collections have been designed for everyday wear and the range starts from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000. Part proceeds of the sales go to charity to support twin causes of education and healthcare for the underprivileged.

What actually inspired you to get into brand licensing?

If you look at today’s time, brands play a very important role and retail to a large extent is affected by brands. Brands have the power to pull people and make the purchase related decision. Salman Khan is one of the biggest film stars of India with huge brand value and has already done his line of clothing. So that consumer connect is already there. We at Style Quotient already share a good equation with Salman which made things fall in right place and intrigued us to take a step ahead by entering into an agreement with Being Human Foundation. We intended to do a jewelry line which should be unique, has a character, right price point and work on the guidelines of the brand philosophy.

What are your plans to scale up with Being Human line?

It’s too early to predict the future course of action. These six lines are for the festive season. Going ahead, there will be lines, based on consumer response, market feedback and will include varied price points and design elements. The market is wide open with jewelry, but right now we don’t want to confuse consumer by offering too much at once. The six lines represent six different values of Being Human foundation as love, care, share joy, help, and hope.

How do you plan to position the collection?

The whole idea of this collection is to cater to the youth driven by impulse buying, the designs are contemporary and multi-dimensional, and akin to what today’s women want to wear. We have both a fine jewelry side as well as fashion side to the collection. Basically, we have a range for everyone. As Salman mentioned, he has fans among the masses also, and even classes. So we want to make sure that everyone has at least one piece from the collection.

Brief us about the retail penetration for this jewelry line.

We don’t have any such plans to launch EBO, however, we are contemplating on opening a Being Human jewelry outlet in Pune in Phoenix mall. But the brand Style Quotient has a lot in its kitty, so a Style Quotient store would make more effect. However, we are brainstorming on shop-in-shop format.