Gujarat Titans becomes the first IPL team to showcase at Lakme Fashion Week, in collaboration with designer Kanika Goyal

This collaboration is only the beginning for the eight-month old franchise; the vision is to create a brand that is not restricted to the IPL season alone

By Naandika Tripathi , Naini Thaker

Published: Oct 18, 2022 01:08:07 PM IST

Updated: Oct 20, 2022 03:09:52 PM IST

(From Left) Cricketer and showstopper Shubman Gill, designer Kanika Goyal and Arvinder Singh, chief operating officer, Gujarat Titans

“Aava De! (bring it on)” hollered Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya in the background, right before designer Kanika Goyal showcased her exclusive streetwear collection at the Lakme Fashion Week x FDCI in Mumbai last week.

The 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL) Champions Gujarat Titans’ collection designed by Goyal presented athleisure wear, a first of its kind collaboration. The designer took inspiration from the many entities of Gujarat. The attires are comfortable, oversized silhouettes with seamless detailing, bright colours, and a variety of fabrics and minute fashionable elements that made the collection for men and women a stylish catch. Riding on the success and support they got during their debut Tata IPL season, Gujarat Titans now aims to offer fans an experience to own and carry the spirit of the team.

In a conversation with Forbes India, Arvinder Singh, chief operating officer of Gujarat Titans, and Kanika Goyal, designer and Forbes India 30 Under 30 2019 alumna, share their experience of collaborating with each other and bringing together the worlds of cricket and fashion with this collection. Singh also talks about how Gujarat Titans is creating a brand name with exciting announcements in the pipeline. Edited excerpts:

Q. How did the collaboration between Gujarat Titans and Kanika Goyal come about?

Arvinder Singh: Though the team Gujarat Titans is only eight months old, we never treated the team as “new”. There are multiple franchises who’ve had a 14-year head start, and here comes another one. What is going to be different, and how will we match up to all of that?

We are very clear: We will not be one of those you see for three months a year, and that’s it. Most people would be wondering what does cricket have to do with fashion, and vice versa, but this is just the beginning. In the last four months, we’ve been working on a lot of things, and this is one of them. Lakme [Fashion Week] provided us with the right platform.

Kanika Goyal: My team and I had a great time working on this unique collaboration. For the first time ever an IPL franchise has collaborated with a fashion brand at Lakme Fashion Week. Cricket is a core part of our country and to be able to design a collection for a much larger audience that goes even beyond our individual fan base and audience collectively was a thrilling experience.

Also read: Komal Pandey: The couture queen

Q. What was your brief for Goyal?

AS: The collaboration started two months back and we’ve been working since then. Our brief to her was very simple, we are Gujarat Titans; we are Titans and Gujarat, so ensure that both are covered. We’ve only had three conversations with her; she knows what she is doing, but it was important for us that our objective was mutually understood. We wanted to make stuff that is wearable and people proudly display our logos. It has been wonderful working with her.

Q. What was the concept behind this collection?

KG: In this collection, self- expression is encouraged by embracing play, as we wear our hearts on our sleeves. Drawn from a myriad iconic entities associated with Gujarat, the collection’s imagery is instilled with an energy that transcends the boundaries of graphic styles. The colour palette reflects our state of mind, with updated neutrals, light-headed pastel tones of lilacs and yellows, accents of saturated tones of orange and cerulean blue, highlighting garment panels as part of the modernist approach to colour-blocking.

Q. Where is this partnership headed?

KG: A quarter of the collection for now is split into two drops that are available for everyone to buy at great affordable price points leading up to the IPL. We have vibrant graphic tees, hoodies, track pants, zipper jackets and shorts that scream comfort while keeping the ‘cool’ quotient in place.

Q. So, this is more of a brand building exercise for Gujarat Titans right?

AS: Yes, absolutely. We are here to create a brand that people can associate with, and we want our fans to be proud of this brand. The centre point, of course, is that we are an IPL team, but we do not want to restrict ourselves to just that.

We decided we won’t look at what somebody is doing or not doing. Last season we couldn’t do too much, we did as much as we could, given the timeframe. But we were very clear that, beyond that what will we showcase? We could have easily finished off the season and walked away from it. But this collaboration is one way in which we are engaging with fans, who have started believing in Gujarat Titans, and what we achieved last year. There will be a lot more of engagement activity that will be coming up soon, but the idea is to engage with youth, kids and elderly. We want to be able to showcase what Gujarat Titans is, and the sky is the limit for us.