Brands
Agilitas Sports acquires Virat Kohli’s One8
BENGALURU: Agilitas Sports, the manufacturing-to-retail sports platform founded by Abhishek Ganguly, has acquired one8, the sportswear brand co-created by Virat Kohli. As part of the deal, Kohli joins Agilitas as investor and co-founder of one8, strengthening a long-standing partnership centred on performance-led design and global ambition.
Agilitas, which spans manufacturing, R&D, brand-building and retail distribution, bolstered its capabilities last year with the acquisition of Mochiko Shoes, India’s largest sports-footwear maker. Bringing one8 under its fold gives the company a consumer-facing brand to anchor its expansion plans.
Kohli said the decision to move one8 to Agilitas stemmed from the group’s depth in manufacturing, design and nationwide distribution. “Movement, comfort and performance define everything for me, and that philosophy naturally shaped the brand,” he said. “What inspired me to bring one8 to Agilitas was the depth of its manufacturing, the strength of the people and Abhishek’s expertise.”
Ganguly said the collaboration builds on an ethos of discipline and ambition. “The one8 mindset is about taking risks, trying the unknown and never settling,” he said. “Together we are building a high-performance brand from India with the ambition to be globally meaningful over the next decade.”
In its next phase, one8 will expand into high-performance footwear, training apparel and sports-led lifestyle products, aiming to position itself as India’s first global sports brand built on athlete-first design and technical innovation.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
