Most cricket stars sign endorsement deals, smile for the camera, and collect the cheque. Virat Kohli looked at that playbook and decided it wasn’t enough. In 2017, inspired by his jersey number 18 and a deep obsession with fitness and lifestyle, he launched one8 — a brand that started as athleisure, grew into a restaurant chain, and eventually became the backbone of one of India’s most strategically built celebrity empires.
Today, one8 spans apparel, footwear, innerwear, fragrances, and hospitality. It has an estimated brand value of over ₹250 crore, a restaurant chain doing ₹100 crore in annual revenue, and a new structural partnership that could take it global. Here’s the full story of how it works.
The Origin: More Than a Jersey Number
The name comes directly from Kohli’s cricket jersey — number 18. But the brand’s birth was no vanity project. It grew out of a landmark deal: in 2017, Kohli signed an eight-year, ₹110 crore contract with Puma, one of the largest athlete-brand agreements in Indian history. That partnership seeded the idea of launching a lifestyle label that he could truly own rather than merely endorse.
What made one8 different from the start was timing. Unlike many athletes who launch brands near retirement — when their cultural influence is already fading — Kohli launched at the absolute peak of his relevance, while still actively playing international cricket and accumulating social capital every single day. The brand launched with Puma footwear under the one8 label and quickly spread into apparel, accessories, innerwear, and fragrances. The core identity: aspirational yet accessible, fitness-driven yet fashion-forward — a direct mirror of its founder.
The Business Model: Licensing, Equity, and an Ecosystem
At its core, one8 operates on a licensing model. Rather than building factories or managing supply chains, the brand licenses its name and identity to established manufacturing and retail partners who handle production, distribution, and retail — while paying royalties or entering profit-share arrangements. This keeps capital requirements low and allows rapid expansion across categories without heavy upfront investment.
The Puma Chapter (2017–2024)
The foundation of one8’s early growth was its Puma collaboration. Over the life of the partnership, the one8 x Puma range — starting with sneakers, expanding into full sportswear — reportedly generated an estimated ₹250 crore in business. For a celebrity-licensing arrangement, that’s a remarkable return.
The Agilitas Pivot (2024–Present)
In 2024, one8 underwent a structural transformation. Kohli sold the one8 brand to Agilitas Sports — a vertically integrated Indian sportswear company founded by former Puma India MD Abhishek Ganguly — and simultaneously invested ₹40 crore of his own money into Agilitas as a co-founder and equity stakeholder.
This wasn’t an exit. It was an upgrade. By converting from brand owner to equity partner, Kohli moved from earning licensing royalties to owning a piece of the entire sportswear value chain — manufacturing, retail, and distribution — through Agilitas’s vertically integrated infrastructure. Agilitas owns Mochiko, one of India’s largest sports footwear manufacturers, capable of producing over 20 million pairs annually and supplying global brands like Adidas, New Balance, and Skechers. Under the new structure, one8 will launch exclusive standalone stores and expand into the US and UK — a significant leap from its India-first origins.
one8 Commune: The Hospitality Bet That Paid Off
If the apparel line is the brand’s identity, one8 Commune is its most tangible business success. What began as a single restaurant in Delhi’s Aerocity in 2017 has grown into a 15+ outlet chain across India’s major metros, with revenues of ₹100 crore in FY23 and an ambitious target of ₹200 crore for FY24.
The positioning is deliberate: premium yet approachable, targeting young urban professionals and families who want an elevated dining experience without fine-dining price points. Interiors are Instagram-ready without being gimmicky. Locations are strategic — Aerocity Delhi, Indiranagar Bengaluru near Chinnaswamy Stadium, Juhu Mumbai in Kishore Kumar’s heritage bungalow.
The secret to its success isn’t Kohli’s face on the menu. It’s operational discipline. The chain is run by childhood friend Vartik Tihara through True Palate Hospitality, with Vikas Kohli actively managing brand operations. Every outlet reaches breakeven within roughly two years, and the chain has been growing at 14–15% year-on-year — figures most pure-play restaurant chains would envy.
How one8 Makes Money: The Revenue Streams
one8’s revenue flows from several sources across its brand ecosystem:
Hospitality (one8 Commune) is currently the largest contributor, driven by 15+ outlets doing strong per-outlet revenue in premium metro locations.
Apparel and footwear — historically via Puma, now transitioning under Agilitas — form the second major stream, with royalty income from licensed product sales.
Innerwear and accessories, through partners like Lux Industries, add a higher-volume, lower-margin revenue layer that extends the brand’s reach into mass premium retail.
Fragrances and lifestyle products extend the brand into daily-use categories with strong margins and recurring purchase behaviour.
Digital and merchandise channels remain a smaller but growing share, benefiting directly from Kohli’s 271 million Instagram followers — one of the most powerful organic distribution channels in Indian marketing.
The Digital Strategy: 271 Million Followers as a Free Marketing Machine
One of one8’s most underappreciated assets isn’t a product or restaurant — it’s Kohli’s Instagram presence. With 271 million followers and average reel views of nearly 25 million, Kohli functions as one of the most powerful zero-cost marketing channels in Indian consumer history.
In a calculated move ahead of the Agilitas partnership, Kohli removed all third-party brand-sponsored posts from his Instagram grid, retaining only personal content and one8-related posts. This wasn’t accidental. It repositioned him not as an endorser for hire but as a brand in himself — a critical distinction when you’re asking consumers to connect with a lifestyle label bearing your name.
one8 launched as an internet-first brand, selling primarily through its own digital channels and major e-commerce platforms before building physical retail presence. This DTC-first approach kept customer acquisition costs low and allowed the brand to build a direct consumer relationship before committing to expensive retail infrastructure.
The Four Strategic Pillars Behind one8’s Growth
1. Authentic alignment over category chasing. Every one8 product — sneakers, restaurants, fragrances — maps directly onto Kohli’s actual lifestyle: fitness, nutrition, premium but grounded. The brand has largely avoided unrelated categories that would dilute its identity.
2. Licensing over manufacturing. Rather than building factories, one8 licenses its brand equity to established partners, keeping overheads lean and enabling rapid category expansion without heavy capital deployment. The Agilitas move is the natural evolution of this — gaining manufacturing control without building it from scratch.
3. Digital-first, always. Launching as an internet brand, not a retail brand, meant the audience was built before the stores were. The social media flywheel now feeds every new product launch and restaurant opening.
4. Equity over endorsement. Kohli consistently takes equity stakes in businesses rather than just endorsement fees — Agilitas, Digit Insurance, and others — ensuring long-term wealth compounding rather than short-term cash flow. This is the most important strategic choice separating one8 from typical celebrity brands.
Why one8’s Timing in India Is Perfect
one8’s story isn’t just about one athlete’s business acumen — it’s about catching the right market wave at the right moment.
India is witnessing a fitness revolution. Post-pandemic, gym memberships, athleisure spending, and health-conscious consumption have grown sharply across urban and semi-urban India — creating a natural, expanding market for exactly what one8 sells. Simultaneously, Indian consumers — especially millennials and Gen Z — are increasingly willing to pay a premium for branded athleisure that signals aspiration and identity. The Indian sportswear market is projected to cross ₹70,000 crore by 2027, and one8, now backed by Agilitas’s manufacturing capabilities, is positioned to capture a meaningful piece of it.
Then there’s the unique power of cricket culture in India. Kohli’s following isn’t just fandom — it’s identity. That depth of loyalty, when channelled into a lifestyle brand, creates a stickiness that no advertising budget can replicate.
The Risks Worth Watching
No business analysis is honest without acknowledging the headwinds.
Single-personality dependency is the brand’s central vulnerability. one8’s equity is inseparable from Kohli’s personal brand. Retirement, a reputational crisis, or simply fading cultural relevance could directly impact the brand’s desirability — a risk that no structural pivot fully eliminates.
Category overextension is a real concern. one8 now spans sneakers, apparel, innerwear, fragrances, and restaurants. While each extension makes individual sense, spreading too thin can dilute the core identity. The licensing model also means one8 has limited control over product quality and customer experience across partners.
Competition intensity is fierce. In sportswear, one8 competes against Nike, Adidas, and Puma with global marketing budgets. In hospitality, the Indian restaurant industry has punishing margins and high failure rates. Sustaining growth in both simultaneously demands exceptional execution at every level.
The Verdict
one8 is a case study in treating your own name as a long-term business asset, not a short-term cash machine.
The Agilitas transaction is the clearest proof of Kohli’s business maturity: sell the brand you built, invest back into the ecosystem that will scale it, and transition from founder-operator to equity-holding co-creator. It mirrors Roger Federer’s relationship with On Running — and that parallel is not accidental.
For India’s fashion and fitness industry, one8 is a genuine proof of concept. A homegrown athlete brand, built on authentic identity, digital-first distribution, and disciplined operational partnerships, can compete — and win — in a market long dominated by global giants.
The innings isn’t over. It’s just getting started.
