Krishnan

@AkashKrishna @kunksed Thank you. Good counter perspective.

That’s how markets work right? In Tokyo, you will find LV stores like they are the westside of India. One district will have 3 or 4 LV stores while a prefecture will have like 10 stores. I doubt India has a total of 10 all over the country. That’s simply because their revenue is market specific and as they observe consumer trends, they decide to scale or to enter a new market. India is a developing economy. More and more people are being exposed to trends and see western brands, especially the luxury brands as aspirational. Take Micheal Kors for example, when they entered, it was aspirational, and now it’s seen as code for ‘wannabe Instagram influencer’. There are brands who refuse to come to India because they don’t want to lose their value. Yes, it’s racist. Patek Philippe, AP, Vacheron and other peers don’t want to setup shop here, because their brand is built on exclusivity. They don’t want to cater to a market that’s heavily influenced by the Swatch group. That’s just how they think. People in India see Uniqlo as elite, while it is Zudio league in Japan, not because of the quality, but because they are everywhere, they are really good with what they make, and affordable. Today, I see executive chair cars are on waiting list for Vande Bharat, while the regular chair car will have a few available seats. If you’ve travelled in a Shinkansen, it won’t matter to you back in India on a Vande Bharat, because you know the standard chair car and the executive car hardly have any difference. But the point is, people are willing to pay 3K INR plus for an 8 hour travel by Vande Bharat. Something unimaginable a decade ago. The social signalling component stems from colonial trauma and the education that we got, which pushed colonial supremacy narratives while undermining our own civilisational heritage. If Birkenstock are expanding, it’s because they see a market to make money. Who cares if it out of fashion in the west? Why is the west the benchmark? It’s not an apples to apples comparison. The trajectory of growth has been very different for India in relation to the west. India is still socialist by design. It was a full blown socialist state till 1991. We lost 5 decades of organic growth driven by capitalism and free market economy. There is only one group of people responsible for the fact that we are playing catch up, 50 years behind in HDI and socioeconomic development compared to the west. Hush puppies were aspirational for a long time, so were Nike and Adidas. Not anymore. It is also worth noting that less than 5% of India’s population can afford a Birkenstock. That is probably around 80% of the population that can afford a Birkenstock in the west. Ballpark numbers. We still get really bad stuff. The Uniqlo in India is not the same in Japan. The varieties are different and they are specific to culture and economy and fashion consciousness. The good news is, I don’t need to go to Japan to buy Uniqlo anymore. Similarly with Birkenstock. Let people enjoy what they aspire to wear. Why shit on it saying we are only getting what is already sunset in the west. So what? How does that change anything for someone who likes the brand? We are still a massively poor nation, and yet the likes of Birkenstock or Uniqlo expanding is positive news. It signals demand and consumption. P.S. I don’t like Birkenstock and never have owned one or will own one. They are ugly and not the kind of ‘comfort’ I prefer.

Birkenstock went from 1 India store in 2020 to more than 50 today. And that isn’t the victory it looks like. It’s a distress signal. Brands don’t walk into India when they’re winning in the West. They walk in when they’ve stopped winning. The Indian premium consumer has quietly become the last chapter in a lot of Western brand stories — and if you squint, you can see the pattern stretching back a decade. Starbucks arrived here in 2012, seven years after US growth peaked and “mall Starbucks” had become shorthand for corporate blandness. H&M came in 2015, just as “fast fashion” stopped being aspirational in the West and started being a slur. Victoria’s Secret shipped up when American teens had moved on to Skims and Aerie. Uniqlo, Pottery Barn, and Zara’s aggressive Indian expansion — all arrived in the second half of their Western growth story, never the first. The pattern is almost comical once you see it. Brands land here right when their home market stops being easy money. Birkenstock is textbook. Their stock is down around 20% this year. Their FY26 guidance disappointed Wall Street last month. The Crocs CEO said recently that customers are “migrating back towards athletic.” The New York Times ran a piece calling the potato-shoe era over. The Western ugly-shoe cycle — the one that put Birkenstock on every Brooklyn influencer’s feet for the last five years — is visibly closing. Meanwhile, Birkenstock India grew 31% last year. APAC is now the company’s fastest-growing segment globally. In their last earnings call, management told investors this growth will “reduce exposure to the US dollar.” Translation: we need India to save the story. And we’re showing up right on cue. Influencers are doing Birkenstock-with-socks posts in 2026, two years after TikTok in New York was already over them. The aunty who called them chappals at a family function in 2019 bought a pair in taupe last month. There’s an Arizona in every third Uber in Bandra. Wedding sangeets now feature cousins sliding into Bostons for the after-party. They’re good shoes. I’ll say it twice because the comfort is real. That’s not the argument. The argument is that the story we tell ourselves about “the brand arriving” is backwards. What actually happened is the brand ran out of easy growth somewhere else, and we became the escape valve. We get to feel arrived. They get to extend the runway. The Indian premium consumer has become a useful last chapter in a lot of these stories. We show up exactly when the West gets bored, which means we’re buying peak narrative the moment it’s losing its edge. We always run this cycle two beats behind. We were getting into skinny jeans as they were dying. Oat milk landed in Mumbai cafés the same year America started complaining it was everywhere. Athleisure became a serious Indian category after athleisure had been absorbed so completely in the US that nobody called it athleisure anymore. The pattern is consistent enough that you could almost trade on it — if you could stomach buying the thing your rich cousins in Manhattan are quietly moving on from. The consolation is that we don’t really care about being first. Indians buy brands for what they signal, not what they predict. A Birkenstock in 2026 Bombay says “I’ve made it.” A Birkenstock in 2026 Brooklyn says “I’m still here, for now.” Those are different jobs, and ours is frankly the more fun one. Being fashion’s last reliable customer is also its own kind of power. The brands know it. That’s why Birkenstock is opening forty new stores globally next year with India as a focus, even as they guide Wall Street to expect slower growth overall. We’re the hedge. The hedge works. Maybe that’s fine. Or maybe it just means we’ll spend the next decade wearing what America is quietly taking off.

@MaitreyiKarnoor Kannad Brwahahahahaaa. Brilliant

@stevehouf @mcgregorrichard Which one is it?

The busiest shopping mall in Shanghai yesterday.

Nice article on gender bias and stereotypes: Ki and Ka: Breaking the gender stereotype people-matters.in/article/strate…

@readingkafka How cool

Beautiful high school with compound wall, basketball court, playground etc built with MGNREGA. The kids are thrilled.

@patcummins30 you beauty! You nailed it. You have everything in you to take the greatest cricket team of all time to also become the most admired! All power to you!

@Tuliodna What a beautiful city and country!

Another hiking in the mountains (this time before 7am due to very h hot day) and went to CT to fetch son from sleep over with friend. However, took the long and scenic route as it is… Sunday…

@ShomaChaudhury @DrSYQuraishi are significantly lower than Hindus in say UP or Bihar. @DrSYQuraishi was bang on that it is more an issue of poverty and education than of religion.

@ShomaChaudhury @DrSYQuraishi Insightful discussion! I wish we could debate such sensitive issues that the country faces with data, empathy and mutual respect! One other data point that was missed was that the TFR of Muslims in states like Telegana, Kerala and West Bengal… 1/2

I had a gripping eye-opening conversation with ⁦@DrSYQuraishi⁩ on the polarising question: is there a Muslim population explosion in India? Does the right wing have any data to base this, or is it just a ugly campaign? Here’s what the data reveals: youtu.be/UoXkcDEQ7Ag

@svembu Well done @svembu! More power to people like you!

Zoho Schools of Learning, our alternative to traditional college degrees, is accepting applications. With a hands-on project-based curriculum, a high faculty to student ratio to provide personal attention and paying the students a stipend vs charging them fees, it is different.🙏

A Legend and a Gentleman! Congratulations on a brilliant career! #RossTaylor!

Dal, gur, ghee, you name it – ration-card holders in Tamil Nadu are getting a 21-item nutritious food pack for Pongal. And no photo of Stalin, thank you.

@moneycontrolcom @chandrarsrikant @ranuvohra @kpswathi @manicontrol2020 @ranuvohra - thanks for the book recommendations. I am sure I will find these great reading!

Of the 250-300 deals that Avendus has worked on, @ranuvohra says the tale of one Indian company, which was listed on the NYSE, will make for a riveting book. Read on to find out which one by @kpswathi & @manicontrol2020 moneycontrol.com/news/trends/fe… #books #startups #AllAboutBooks

Show them this, you who have to raise your children amidst bigotry, and tell them.. Be like Tutu. Be like Dalai Lama Humble, mischievous, wise. Who will embody faith in History Be not like pompous, violent, insecure, “godmen” Who will be consigned to the dustbin of History

Cricket literacy rate ✈️✈️

@FairPriceSG really knows how to put you in your place! I mean how many brands are this honest to you? No bullshit “silver tier”, “blue card” not even basic member. Just lay it out what you really are - bam!

Fantastic story if the life of Niki Lauda!

@Mitch_Savage @ICC Your grammar is not quite THEIR yet!

Excited for India to beat the @ICC world test champions at home in there own conditions. Congrats 👏

@GeoffLemonSport What a thread! You are a legend, Lemon!

By starting with today’s large cap stock, is there an inherent survivorship bias in the study of returns?