Shivani Goel joins Reliance Brands to lead Hugo Boss, Zegna and Tumi in India

MUMBAI: Reliance Brands has just made its intent on luxury menswear rather loud. Shivani Goel, a 17-year veteran of fashion, beauty and retail marketing, has joined the group as vice president marketing, taking charge of a portfolio that reads like a shopping list for the well heeled: Hugo Boss, Paul & Shark, Zegna, and Tumi. The mandate is simple to state and brutally hard to execute: build desirability, stay culturally relevant, and make the cash registers sing, all without diluting decades of European heritage for an Indian audience that increasingly knows its Zegna from its Ermenegildo.

Goel is no stranger to scaling brands from the ground up. At Forever New, where she spent three years and eight months as vice president marketing, she oversaw brand strategy through a turbulent retail cycle. Before that, a four and a half year stint at Colorbar USA saw her lead global marketing communications and international expansion, and a spell at Koovs.com sharpened her digital and e-commerce instincts at a time when Indian fashion retail was still finding its feet online. Her earliest years, at Major Brands India, ICICI Prudential and Kansai Nerolac, gave her a grounding in both classic brand management and hard-nosed product marketing, an unusual combination that luxury houses now prize.

The appointment matters because Reliance Brands has been quietly assembling one of the most formidable luxury stables in India, and menswear specifically has lagged womenswear in both range and depth. Hugo Boss and Zegna bring tailoring credibility, Tumi brings the accessories and travel angle, and Paul & Shark rounds it out with resort and leisurewear. Stitching these together under one coherent brand voice, rather than four disconnected import operations, is precisely the job Goel has been hired to do. Her own words on the move are telling: she talks of creating relevance without compromising heritage, and driving growth without diluting desirability, a balancing act that has tripped up many an international brand parachuted into the Indian market with more arrogance than local insight.

Expect her early priorities to include sharper retail experiences, celebrity and cultural partnerships, and a digital-first consumer engagement push, all areas where she has a track record. If Reliance Brands can replicate its womenswear luxury success in menswear, credit will likely trace back to this appointment. For now, the industry will be watching how fast Goel can turn four storied global names into one credible, high-growth Indian luxury menswear story.