After shaping some of India’s most recognised lifestyle and innerwear brands, Preeti Gupta has rejoined the Aditya Birla Group, this time as Chief Business Officer, Van Heusen Innerwear at Aditya Birla Fashion and Lifestyle Brands Limited (ABLBL). While the organisation is familiar, her new role marks an entirely new mandate — to lead Van Heusen Innerwear into its next phase of expansion in one of India’s fastest-growing lifestyle categories.
Preeti’s journey began with a strong foundation in product and consumer understanding at NIFT, where she honed her expertise in design and merchandising. Her early professional years were spent at Madura Garments (ABFRL), where she led Allen Solly Women, taking on full P&L responsibility, turning the business EBITDA-positive within two years, and scaling it nationally. She also played a key role in Esprit’s India entry, gaining valuable experience in global sourcing and brand-building.
In 2006, she joined the founding team of Reliance Trends, helping shape the vision of “democratising fashion in India.” Here, she built and led the women’s western wear and non-apparel businesses, created and scaled private labels, developed exclusive sub-brand architecture, and led buying, planning, design, and sourcing functions end-to-end. This phase cemented her reputation as a leader capable of building fashion businesses from the ground up and scaling them across India’s diverse markets. Later, as Head of Licensing at Tommy Hilfiger India, she drove brand partnerships and category expansion, ensuring brand consistency and profitable growth.
Her most transformative phase came in the innerwear and comfortwear category. As COO at Enamor (Modenik Lifestyle), she repositioned the brand for the modern Indian woman, launched a new category that now contributes over 25% of revenue, introduced a refreshed retail identity, and drove nearly 3X brand growth while improving profitability. She also co-led the strategic process that culminated in Enamor’s acquisition by Advent International, maximising enterprise value.
In 2020, Preeti joined Nykaa Fashion as Chief Business Officer – Owned Brands, where she built Nykd by Nykaa from the ground up to a ₹200+ crore ARR brand in under four years, maintaining EBITDA positivity. Under her leadership, the brand expanded across 2,000+ general trade outlets and 40+ exclusive stores, achieved top rankings on major e-commerce platforms, and oversaw the acquisition and 5X scale-up of the activewear label Kica. She also managed Nykaa’s owned brands marketplace and physical retail portfolio, serving as a Board Member at FSN Distribution.
Her return to ABLBL comes at a defining moment for the ₹55,000+ crore Indian innerwear and comfortwear market, which is undergoing a structural shift driven by comfort-first fashion, the growing participation of women in the workforce, rising premiumisation, and body-positive consumer trends. Van Heusen Innerwear, already a dominant player in men’s innerwear, is now poised to deepen its presence in women’s categories, strengthen its product innovation, and build a more emotionally resonant, lifestyle-driven brand narrative.
Preeti’s proven ability to transform brands, scale operations, and align consumer strategy with long-term profitability makes her ideally suited for this next phase of Van Heusen Innerwear’s evolution. Her return to the Aditya Birla Group is not about going back — it’s about leading forward. As she steps into this pivotal role, Van Heusen Innerwear stands at the threshold of a new era — one that blends comfort, identity, and innovation — and with Preeti Gupta at the helm, the industry will be watching closely as she shapes the brand’s next growth story.