Aditya Birla Fashion aims at turning Forever 21 profitable

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail (ABFRL) plans to downsize and rightsize the Indian franchisee outlets of US brand Forever 21, in changes aimed at turning the label profitable by the end of this fiscal, according to a top executive of the company.

Ashish Dikshit, Business Head, ABFRL, said, "Our goal is to turn positive in Forever 21 next year, which is the first landmark we have set for the brand. It is going to come both through some of the levers on the margin side that we are playing, as well as the rapid expansion and the right business model that we are doing with the new stores that we are launching. So, growing the business rapidly and turning it positive is the first goal post for next year."

ABFRL paid $ 26 million last year to acquire exclusive offline and online rights of US fast fashion major Forever 21 in the Indian market.

Dikshit said, "ABFRL will open more economically viable Forever 21 stores. Both in terms of size and rental, and clearly the newer stores that we are signing are far more economically viable and more profitable."

The company plans to roll out about 15 new 8,000 sq ft to 12,000 sq ft stores this fiscal.

A company spokesperson said, "We are also planning to resize two of our existing stores, which were much bigger."