Brands
Jockey races ahead with 1500 stores as comfort meets retail milestone
MUMBAI: Looks like Jockey’s running a winning streak and this time, the finish line reads 1,500. The iconic innerwear and lifestyle brand has hit a major retail milestone with the launch of its 1500th Exclusive Brand Store (EBS) in India, marking a new chapter in its three-decade-long evolution from comfort staple to fashion statement.
The milestone outlet, featuring a sleek, youthful design, mirrors Jockey’s shift towards a more style-conscious audience. Stocked with a full range of apparel and innerwear for men, women, and children, the store embodies the brand’s mantra of fusing everyday ease with contemporary flair.
It’s been quite the journey since Jockey opened its first Indian store back in 1995. What began as a trusted name for innerwear has now grown into a full-fledged lifestyle brand, one that understands that comfort isn’t just worn, it’s lived. From metros to tier II and III towns, the brand’s 1,500 exclusive stores stand as proof of its deep market connect and inclusive retail strategy.
“We are thrilled to reach this incredible milestone of 1500 stores in India,” said Page Industries chief retail officer Ankur Sharma. “This achievement is a testament to our consumers’ love and our franchisees’ trust. It marks another step forward in our mission to redefine comfort and style in everyday essentials.”
The new store format reflects how Jockey has evolved to stay in step with India’s changing retail rhythm. With clean lines, digital integration, and an inviting layout, each outlet doubles up as an experience hub, a space where shoppers can explore, try, and indulge in the brand’s growing lifestyle collection.
Behind this steady sprint is a clear strategy: blend a robust offline network with a strong online presence. By aligning its distribution with the pulse of modern consumers, Jockey continues to hold its own in an increasingly competitive apparel landscape.
From its humble beginnings to a 1,500-store-strong empire, Jockey’s story proves that comfort never goes out of style, it just finds new ways to fit. And as the brand slips comfortably into this next phase, it’s safe to say that Jockey isn’t just keeping pace with India’s fashion-forward consumers, it’s setting the rhythm.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
