Hrithik Roshan's HRX: A Fitness Brand Built With Myntra
Hrithik Roshan's HRX launched on Myntra in 2013 and later became partly owned by it. The launch, the equity deal and the open questions.
Hrithik Roshan's HRX is one of the early Indian examples of a star-backed brand meant to last longer than a single endorsement. It was conceived in 2012, went on sale exclusively on Myntra in 2013 and later became partly owned by Myntra itself. The records are mostly press releases and business reports, and this piece reads them with that in mind.
The launch
FashionUnited reported in November 2013 that Myntra had unveiled the brand. A Myntra release says HRX was incepted in 2012 and exclusively licensed to the retailer in 2013. Business Today described it as a joint effort among the actor, Exceed Entertainment and The Wild East Group, aiming for Rs 100 crore in online revenue, a target it reported in December 2013.
Business Today wrote that, besides Salman Khan's Being Human, HRX was "perhaps the only other celebrity-backed brand launched with a long-term vision". It added that India, celebrity-crazy as it is, still lacked a billion-dollar celebrity brand.
What it sells
According to the Myntra release, HRX combines fashion and fitness, drawing inspiration from the actor. The range includes sports and training apparel, casual apparel, footwear and accessories for men and women, in vibrant colours. The release says women's wear and footwear were areas of focus, while menswear would continue to dominate the line-up.
The equity deal
In 2016 Myntra announced it had bought a majority stake in HRX, which it described as co-owned by Roshan and Exceed Entertainment. The release called it a first-of-its-kind deal, in which a celebrity-incubated brand and an e-fashion platform aligned through equity. It said HRX was on track to double revenues to Rs 200 crore that financial year and was preparing to go offline the next year.
Afsar Zaidi, founder of Exceed Entertainment and co-founder of HRX with Sid Shah, called the brand "a perfect example of building long term IP and creating a legacy around a celebrity's core values and stardom". The sale terms were not disclosed in the release we read, and the revenue figures are the company's own projections.
The actor's message
Roshan said in the release that the mission of the brand is "to impact, transform and empower a billion people in their journey to be the best version of themselves". He added that he has always been passionate about physical and mental fitness. These are corporate statements, and the release is from the buyer.
A search summary of coverage from that period adds that in 2017 HRX partnered with Cult, then called CureFit, to start an HRX workout programme at Cult centres. We could not read that source in full, so treat that point as unconfirmed.
Where it sits in a wider trend
Mint, writing about another star's brand, notes that Myntra also partnered with Deepika Padukone on All About You and describes both as aimed at the youth category. The pattern is common: the star lends the image and the retailer supplies manufacturing, data and distribution, while the star's own role varies by deal.
The man behind the label
Wikipedia calls Roshan the "millennial superstar" and says his first leading role, in Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), was a box-office success. It credits Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) as a turning point and says he later played the superhero in Krrish (2006) and Krrish 3 (2013). The brand's emphasis on fitness fits the physical transformations his roles have required.
What we could not confirm
We could not read the FashionUnited page, so we relied on its headline and date. The Myntra release gives no sale price for the stake, and the revenue targets in it were projections, not audited results. We did not verify the brand's current sales, store count or ownership after 2016. The Cult partnership comes from a search summary only.
Sources
*Cover photo: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rakesh_Roshan,_%28director%29_and_Hrithik_Roshan_%28actor%29_at_the_presentation_of_the_film_Krissh_on_the_occasion_of_37th_International_Film_Festival_%28IFFI-2006%29_in_Panaji,_Goa_on_November_30,_2006.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rakesh_Roshan,_%28director%29_and_Hrithik_Roshan_%28actor%29_at_the_presentation_of_the_film_Krissh_on_the_occasion_of_37th_International_Film_Festival_%28IFFI-2006%29_in_Panaji,_Goa_on_November_30,_2006.jpg)* (GODL-India).*