Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders have injected fresh blood into cricket frenzy in this city, with the team's garments and accessories selling at Reebok stores and also being duplicated with great success by local businessmen.
While international brand Reebok is cashing in on the excitement among city-dwellers over the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, small time traders are making the best of the opportunity.
Chhagan Tibrewal, manager, franchise, at a Reebok store in Kolkata, said: "People cutting across all age groups are coming to the store to get their favourite team's jerseys, bats, helmets, T-shirts and sneakers."
Shah Rukh Khan, who owns the team, a few days ago unveiled the Knight Riders' accessories range in the store. The shop is completely wrapped up in black and golden along with King Khan's larger than life portraits.
Products available at the store are ranged between Rs 349 and Rs 2,990. While helmets, T-shirts, caps, jerseys and socks are between Rs 349 and Rs 1,899, sneakers are priced at Rs 1,990-Rs 2,990.
The eye-catching T-shirts carry interesting lines like, "Out of darkness comes the Knight" and many more. These have certainly become a hit among youngsters.
Local businessmen are also not far behind. The sports' goods complex in the city, BC Roy Market, which is commonly known as Maidan Market, is one such place where small businessmen make a living and it is full of the locally made black and golden jerseys of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
A businessman, Azad, who has been running his shop there for the last seven years, said: "We started selling Knight Riders T-shirts around April 15-16, and got a tremendous response."
The sale goes up before every match. They don't have catchphrases written on the T-shirts but are attractively priced at Rs 125-Rs 150.
These shops have also been getting bulk orders from various places for Knight Riders jerseys.
The small players who used to look forward to India matches - until the IPL started - are now hoping to gain from the popularity of the Knight Riders.
Azad said: "The jerseys are selling like hot cakes, we have never sold anything in our entire business career like this."
This proves that IPL means not only entertainment for the people in the City of Joy but also businesses.
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