Time to flaunt IPL colours

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Following the World Cup victory youngsters have taken the brand adage, “team jeetti nahi usey jeetana padta hai”, literally. And they support their favourite IPL teams by proudly flaunting the “official” jerseys, T-shirts. And as IPL 4 gains steam the sale of official team merchandise, both on the Web and in stores, is steadily picking up, signifying that avid fans are sporting their team emblem on their sleeves.

The team merchandise juggernaut was kicked-off in the capital recently by Puma and Rajiv Mehta, MD Puma, referring to the Deccan Chargers team as “the coolest looking team in the IPL”, said, “Cricket is like a religion in India and cricket merchandise caters to fans and consumer needs. Watching a game becomes more exciting with the right gear on.”
Stressing on how the rage for brandishing IPL colours is catching on, he adds, “The World Cup has definitely increased our sales and we expect greater consumer footfalls, this new season of IPL.”
Going by the volumes that Web shopping portals witness, it seems youngsters enjoy shopping online for their favourite merchandise. eBay India, that has partnered with brands like Adidas, Reebok, Puma and Lotto to sell IPL merchandise for all the 10 franchises, says the excitement is catching up. Informs, Deepa Thomas, Senior Manager of eBay Pop Culture, “The IPL 4 is generating a lot of excitement among consumers. With the recent World Cup win, cricket enthusiasts are going all out to cheer their favourite players.”
Seconds Mukesh Bansal, CEO, Myntra.com, that sold record volumes of World Cup apparels and memorabilia, “The World Cup was great. We sold 20,000 Team India jerseys and we expect the IPL season to be even better. The merchandise sales have started off very well. We expect a growth of at least five times over last year’s IPL merchandise sales.”
Designers Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra, who are associated with Adidias to design jerseys for three teams — Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils say there is a whole new set of design philosophy and fashion sensibility involved in the process.
“For Mumbai, the gold on the shoulder with the blue signifies the amalgamation of old and new Mumbai. Pune is a masculine black and Delhi is a vibrant, cutting-edge design,” informs Shantanu.
“Cricket has always been a rage and IPL is more of a glam event. It is all about going out there and having fun. You look at Mumbai Indians and they have the iconic Sachin Tendulkar, Delhi and Pune have Sehwag and Yuvraj respectively. They have a large following and youngsters wish to flaunt the same colours as their heroes,” he sums up.