'We will add at least 10 more stores this year'

HRX (Hrithik Roshan Extreme) was strictly an online brand until last year. It offers a range of products including t-shirts, track pants, jackets, tights, as well as sports accessories such as footwear, and backpacks for men and women. Its store collections are inspired by the Bollywood actor's everyday choices for workouts. The brand, jointly owned by Hrithik Roshan and Exceed Entertainment, was launched first on Myntra.com in November 2013 with an athleisure line for men. Recently, the active lifestyle apparel brand has secured an official fan merchandise partnership with four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has unveiled physical stores. The brand's journey signifies the success story of a home-grown sportswear. In an email interview with Images Business of Fashion, Afsar Zaidi, Co-founder of the brand said, In the course of the journey we evolved, made mistakes, corrected the course, outshone competition, ma strong community, garnered enough love and finally once all the chief milestones- in terms of business, product and consumers were covered, we decided to go omni. Excerpts

Since the brand is backed by a famous person, its visibility at the launch was big. But why has it taken so long for the brand to launch a physical store?

HRX was structured and planned as an e-commerce brand. We came into being when the e-commerce sun had just started rising. It was the dawn of a new era and we were the brand which belonged to that era. In the course of the journey we evolved, made mistakes, corrected the course, outshone competition, made a strong community, garnered enough love and finally once all the chief milestones- in terms of business, product and consumers were covered, we decided to go omni. It is a natural progression for an online brand to create experiential destinations for people to touch and feel and believe the philosophy they have lived with us and through us over the years.

What has made the HRX journey successful? Please discuss the strategy.

It is a few simple things yet the most difficult to execute:

Consistency- we have stayed consistent in our pursuit; be it our story, positioning, narrative or the trajectory for expansion. We have not been enamored by categories and conversations which are not fitness.