S Kumars seals global agreement with DKI

S Kumars Nationwide Ltd (SKNL) has announced that it has entered an agreement with Donna Karan International.

Under the venture, S Kumars will be allowed to design, produce and distribute the entire range of DKNY menswear apparel across the world.

SKNL India will hold 80 percent of the joint venture and the rest will be held by DKI. The joint venture is valid until 2015 with an option to extend for seven more years.

Nitin S Kasliwal, vice-chairman and managing director of S Kumars, said that the new venture will invest $25 million for expansion of Donna Karan’s menswear brand and targets to record sales of about $140 million in the next three years.

The two partners have appointed Michael Morris, who was earlier the executive deputy chairman of UK fashion brand management Marchpole that was handling the DKNY menswear portfolio.

DKI, currently a public traded venture, was founded in 1985 in New York by fashion designer Donna Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss. It was later purchased by LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton.