BENGALURU: Titan’s urban youth brand Fastrack announced the launch of a new category – helmets in Bengaluru. The new range will see 24 different variants for ‘guys and girls’ in different colours and graphics, making them a style-essential for its TG. Titan plans to include a range of bicycle headgear and accessories in the near future.

Fastrack, which was launched in 1998, has seen revenue growth of more than fifty times from Rs 30 crore to Rs 770 crore, hence making it the largest fashion accessories brand in the country, claim Titan officials. By the end of this fiscal in March 2014, the company expects revenue of just Rs 8 to 10 crores from the helmet stream and about Rs 50 crore during FY-2014-15.

We are looking at revenue of about Rs 500 crore from this stream over the next five years, says Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhatt

The company says that the present size of the organised helmet market which constitutes about 45 per cent of the overall market is Rs 400 crore in India and is estimated to grow to about Rs 1500 crore over the next five years. “We are looking at revenue of about Rs 500 crore from this stream over the next five years,” reveals Titan managing director Bhaskar Bhatt to www.indiantelevision.com.

“India has one of the highest numbers of two-wheelers in the world. With unorganised players currently driving the helmet business, the category has a large potential in the market. We are trying to buck the trend – even if a person doesn’t want to buy a helmet, she or he will buy it because it’s from Fastrack, because we believe that it is not the helmet that the person will buy, but brand Fastrack,” Bhatt further adds.

For the present Fastrack helmets will be sold through the 147 Fastrack stores across the country. Titan plans to increase the number of Fastrack outlets to 200 by 31 March, 2014. The company also plans to sell helmets online through its own portal as well as other fashion online retailers such as Myntra, Jabong, etc., in the near future.

“We are looking at outdoor promotions over the next few months. We’ll probably launch a multimedia campaign including TVCs sometime in the near future,” informs Titan Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ronnie Talati. Lowe Lintas handles the creative duties and Maxus the media buying for Fastrack.

Company sources peg the outdoor Fastrack helmets campaign at about Rs 2 crores till the end of this fiscal, and then depending upon the response, will chalk out a campaign for the next year.

“Being in the business of youth fashion accessories, helmets were a natural extension for us after watches, sunglasses and bags. Many of today’s youth use protective gear to make bold fashion statements. The youth being the dominant consumers for the category, launching the helmets range under the Fastrack umbrella would help keep a firm grip on the capricious youth market,” adds Talati.