Future Group has appointed N Mohan as the director of its footwear business. Prior to joining Future Group, Mohan was Global Head – Footwear and Garments at Tata International and has over 31 years of international experience, including seven years in Europe, one of the most challenging markets of the world.
He has more than 25 years of association with the Tata group and has successfully managed the entire value chain, ranging from concept development to delivering the product to the customer at the market place.
The industry veteran informed S&A, “The footwear industry in India has a lot of untapped potential and can help us further strengthen our fashion business at Future Group. Going forward, our ambition is to build a world class global footwear business which is based on our ingrained values, consumer insight and latest fashion. We believe we can be the leader in the footwear space in next five years, by contributing both in terms of number of pairs sold and in value.” He added, “India is an evolving market for fashion product, and footwear is an important fashion accessory. Footwear is not only a mere functional necessity today; it is a fashion statement reflecting individual attitudes. India is the second largest footwear manufacturer and accounts for 9% of the footwear business globally. Currently, India produces 2.1 billion pairs of footwear out of which 90% are consumed internally making us the third largest footwear consuming country in the world after China and America.”
Mumbai-headquartered Future Group, a conglomerate, is known for its significant prominence in the Indian retail and fashion sectors with popular supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores like Brand Factory, Central etc. and also for having a notable presence in integrated foods and FMCG. Global brands such as Skechers and Clarks entered India through a Joint Venture with the group in 2012 and 2009 respectively. Similarly, French fashion name Celio entered the Indian markets in 2008 through a 50:50 joint venture with the group’s then Retail hand, Pantaloons Retails India Ltd (now Future Retail Ltd). In November 2013, Celio hiked its stake in the joint venture to 65%. It portfolio comprises of Indigo Nation, Scullers, John Millers, All, Rig, Cover Story, DJ&C, Buffalo, Hey, Converse, Bare, Clarks, Holii, UMM and Urban Yoga.
