About
Asutosh is a seasoned professional with over 12 years of experience in the Fashion & Lifestyle industry. He has handled Category / Brand management & Product roles across diverse categories. In his current role, Asutosh is responsible for building the Non-Apparel segment for Azorte. He has successfully introduced new categories spanning Accessories, Innerwear & Sleep across Men, Women & Kids segments. He is involved in scaling up these high-margin & impulse categories to improve profitability of Azorte. He has successfully introduced PL brands and scaled up these segments resulting in the exit of EB brands from Azorte and a significant rise in revenue share to be at par competitors. Prior to this, Asutosh was working as a Product Owner as a part of the D2C team at Adidas AG He was involved in multiple projects for end-to-end value optimization for Adidas customers across the globe. He was instrumental in building an integrated planning & replenishment tool for the Trans4m initiative which optimized the Assortment Planning, Buying, Allocation & Replenishment process with market specific role-outs starting with North America followed by EU. At NFDI (Ministry of Textiles), he worked as the COO to setup the Smart Wearable Systems (SWS) and Fashion & Lifestyle Accessories (F&LA) start-up incubators. He successfully kickstarted incubator operations within a period of 90 days of joining by onboarding 15 incubatees, 3 Subject Matter Experts & 2 Venture Capitalists. He prepared NFDI operating policy and utilized budget of INR 1 Cr allocated for H2 2020-21 towards procurement and infrastructure setup. At Timex Group, he worked as Design Manager and was responsible for Category Management & New Product Development operations of watches and wearables category for South East Asia for Ted Baker, Benetton, Nautica, Timex & Helix brands amounting to INR 150 Cr. He also managed contract design & development for ABFRL and USPL brands towards Covid-19 contingency initiatives and generated INR 10 Cr revenue for Jun-Aug 20. Steered Timex’s focus on wearables category and led new product launches generating a revenue of INR 25 Cr. Previously, he has worked in Design managerial roles in Raymond Ltd, William Penn (P) Ltd, ITC Infotech and played a pivotal role in New Product Developments, Design Innovation across product lines including bags, luxury products, lifestyle accessories & travel goods. He played a key role in aligning the niche businesses with the mainline business to build a homogeneous experience for the customer.
Work experience
Brand Head (B&M) - Non Apparel / Sleep / Innerwear at Reliance Retail, Apr 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 7 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Building Azorte Responsible for Sleepwear, Non-Apparel, Innerwear & Lingerie business for Azorte. P&L responsibility
Product Owner - D2C at adidas, Apr 2022 - Mar 2023 · 1 yr, Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany, As a part of the Digital Sales Solutions team I am involved in multiple projects to ensure end to end value optimization for the Adidas customer • Major Market Replatforming - Commerce Lite (Israel, SA, Panama) • Building an integrated Replenishment Tool as a part of Trans4m project for Supply Chain solutions • Optimizing the Assortment Planning, Buying, Allocation & Replenishment solutions with country specific role-outs starting with NAM followed by EU
Chief Operating Officer - NFDI, Ministry of Textiles at Government of India Official, Jan 2021 - Apr 2021 · 4 mos, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, • Strategic and executional leadership responsibility for setting up Start-up incubators • Prepared NFDI policy, formulated the growth strategy and kickstarted incubator operations • Established strategic alliances between incubator, industry & investors by managing a diverse set of stakeholders. • Managed allocated budget towards procurement and infrastructure setup
Visiting Faculty at National Institute of Fashion Technology India, Jul 2020 - Dec 2020 · 6 mos, • Visiting Faculty and SME for Product Design & Marketing at National Institute of Fashion Technology
Design Manager - Watches & Wearables at Timex Group, Feb 2019 - Dec 2020 · 1 yr 11 mos, Greater Delhi Area, • Category management & new product development of watches and wearables category • Managed B2B design & manufacturing for external brands • Benchmarked competitors offerings to identify assortment gaps resulting in conceptualization of new category • Devised pricing and channel strategy, identified and developed global vendors and involved in product launched • Design collections for catering to seasonal demands by synergising customer requirements & product innovation • Unified global market trends & distinct design elements to maintain brand identity resulting in market growth • Formulated go to market strategy for collections
Education
Master of Business Administration - MBA, General Management, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
Bachelor of Design, Fashion & Lifestyle Accessories, National Institute of Fashion Technology India
