While India's fortunes at the Beijing Olympics would be known only during the course of the games, there has been an early India involvement with the country's largest apparel exporter Gokaldas Exports securing an order to supply activewear for thousands of participants. "We have secured the order and shipments are under way to reach our buyer (read: Nike). The shipments should be completed by next month to ensure distribution from there on starts by May," a senior official of Gokaldas Exports told ET.

Nike is one of the marquee names to which Gokaldas Exports is a key supplier. The Nikeassociation accounts for about 10%-15% of the Bangalore based company's deal, with the supply for the Olympics alone bringing in between 3%-5% of it.

Besides selling directly to the national teams, Nike would also be looking to sell some portion of the merchandise sourced from the company through its chain of retail stores worldwide.

Gokaldas Exports, whose majority stake is now owned by private equity player-Blackstone, would be supplying around 250,000 units of an assortment of apparel like jumpers, track-suits, vests and jackets. Incidentally, Gokaldas Exports were also a supplier for the soccer World Cup in 2006, which was jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea, once again through a Nike deal. The World Cup order was for about 100,000 units.


Source: ET