The Luxe Life

Bolstered by the start-up boom and soaring stock markets, GenZ is consuming luxury unapologetically

- SMITA TRIPATHI

IT'S A BUSY Saturday afternoon at Jio World Drive, Mumbai's latest shopping destination, where global luxury and bridge-to-luxury brands share space with Indian lifestyle brands. Opened last year, the 17-5-acre mall owned by Reliance Retail is the ideal destination for the over 60 global brands that Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) has a tie-up with, including Coach, Bally, Tumi, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, etc. Here we meet 23-year-old Advaith Rane, who has just started working with a leading multinational firm, and is looking for a laptop bag. "My bag's probably more expensive than the laptop, but the company provides the laptop," laughs Rane, as he pays ₹58,000 for a Coach laptop bag. He is familiar with the brand as his parents gifted him a Coach wallet on his 18th birthday. He had done his research online and knew what he wanted. At the store, he just wanted to double check that the bag wasn't too heavy as he often needed to carry it around.

At Delhi's DLF Emporio mall, weekend footfalls have increased from an average 12,000 during pre-Covid-19 times to nearly 18,000 now. The mall, considered the mecca for luxury retail in Delhi, houses brands such as Cartier, Dior, Bvlgari, Gucci, Versace, etc. Pushpa Bector, Executive Director of DLF Retail, says international brands have seen sales increase by 60-70 per cent from pre-Covid-19 levels at the mall. "Once Indians stopped travelling abroad during Covid-19, they discovered the luxury brands in India. And now, they are continuing to shop here even with international travel having opened up," says Bector.