Cricketer Hardik Pandya Joins Hands With FanCode Shop To Roll Out His Sportswear Brand

Cricketer Hardik Pandya has inked a deal with FanCode’s online merchandise and licensing arm FanCode Shop to roll out his own personalised sportswear brand.

The Dream Sports-owned company said in a statement that under this licensing pact, it will design, manufacture and market products under the Hardik Pandya brand name in a revenue-sharing partnership.

The product line will initially include t-shirts, vests, polos, shorts, and jackets, with prices ranging from INR 899 to INR 2.2 K, it added.

ET reported the development first.

“I really wanted to create something that embodies my journey and connects with today’s youth who are unstoppable despite what life throws at them. I am excited to see this come alive with the performance wear range with FanCode Shop,” said Pandya.

This deal also marks Pandya’s entry into licensing after only doing endorsement deals for brands till now.

“We have worked with Hardik and Rise for more than a year on building the product. We have launched 26 products in performance wear and are working to launch more products in the coming days,” said FanCode’s cofounder Yannick Colaco.

In September 2023, FanCode also acquired the exclusive streaming rights for various Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions for 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Later in June this year, the partnership got extended till 2029.

Founded by Yannick Colaco and Prasana Krishnan in 2019, FanCode claims to provide personalised experience across content and merchandise.In 2020, the company launched FanCode Shop, an online sports fan merchandising store which provides easy access to a range of authentic sports brands. 

FanCode shop claims to be the official merchandise partner for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023.

The development comes at a time when India’s sports wear space has been seeing a lot of activities across licensing and funding.

For instance, sportswear startup Agilitas Sports recently acquired the brand licence for Italian sports brand Lotto. Under the long-term license of 40 years, the startup bagged the exclusive rights to design, manufacture and distribute the brand in India, South Asia and Australia. In December last year, Agilitas Sports raised INR 100 Cr (about $11.9Mn) from venture capital firm Nexus Venture Partners.

Talking about funding, Bengaluru-based activewear brand TechnoSport recently secured $25 Mn (around INR 208 Cr) from A91 Partners to boost its manufacturing capabilities as well as focus on digital brand building and marketing activities.