French Connection is a British clothing name owned by a private company, FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED, UK company number 01410568, status “Active”, public until 15 November 2021 and since then held by MIP HOLDINGS LTD in the same London building. On the Indian register mirror the name is one UK proprietor’s, in class 25 for clothing and class 14 for watches, both “Registered”.
No company of its own sells it in India. The clothes come on an April 2023 licence to a Myntra entity, a men’s underwear range “Available in our India market only” on an April 2016 licence to a Rupa & Co subsidiary, and the watches through a Mumbai retail LLP; the owner’s April 2026 statement calls its India presence a buying office. On 26 September 2026 one brand facet on a large Indian marketplace held 4,261 listings, t-shirts at a median ₹849.50 paid against a ₹2,299 MRP and watches at ₹4,496.50 against ₹13,995.
French Connection belongs to FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED, a private British company under MIP Holdings Ltd since a court-sanctioned takeover in November 2021, with no revenue figure found for the private years. No Indian company of its own sells anything; three separate licences carry the name here, and the clothing and watch records name different companies. On 26 September 2026 t-shirts sold at 37.0% of MRP and watches at 32.1% on one marketplace facet. When a watch goes wrong, the cover is one year on the movement from the shop that sold it, with a five-day return window; for clothing, nobody publishes a warranty, refund holder or grievance officer.
Snapshot
- What it is
- A British clothing brand owned by FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED, UK company number 01410568, status “Active”, private limited, incorporated 19 January 1979, registered office “Second Floor, Centro One, 39 Plender Street, London, England, NW1 0DT”, formerly listed under the ticker FCCN; other UK companies carrying the name, FRENCH CONNECTION LIMITED (01069342) and FRENCH CONNECTION UK LIMITED (01222335), both status “Active”, and “French Connection (London) Limited” (00996609), the trading entity on the brand’s terms of use. Its own India presence is a buying office; the only Indian register entity carrying the name is FRENCH CONNECTION LTD., FCRN F01020, a Foreign Company, office printed as “33,ATLANTA, 209,NARIMAN POINT, , BOMBAY-400 021., Delhi, India – 000000”; no document read links F01020 to the UK clothing company
- Indian trade marks
- 1467615, class 25, goods “Clothing, Headgear And Footwear; Scarves; Gloves; Ties And Belts.”, status “Registered”; 1864534, class 14, goods “Jewellery, Watches; Precious Metals; Horological And Chronometric Instruments.”, status “Registered”, valid to 18 September 2029; both in one UK proprietor’s name, no registered-user field published on either (register mirror)
- Indian licensees and sellers
- Clothing: “Myntra Jabong Private Limited” in the April 2023 announcement; the register carries MYNTRA JABONG INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, CIN U74900KA2015FTC079383, incorporated 20 March 2015 at ROC Bangalore, status “Active”, sub-category “Subsidiary of company incorporated outside India”, paid-up capital ₹1,44,08,692, activity 749 – “Business activities n.e.c.”, and separately MYNTRA DESIGNS PRIVATE LIMITED, CIN U72300KA2007PTC041799, paid-up capital ₹10,24,75,405, activity 7230 — “Data processing. This includes the processing or tabulation of all types of data…”. Innerwear: Oban Fashions, a Rupa & Co subsidiary, April 2016. Watches: sold by ILG INDIA FASHION LLP, LLPIN AAQ-2235, status “Active”, incorporated 09 August 2019, F1 4 Pinnaacles Business Park, Mahakali Caves Road, Andheri East, Mumbai, activity “Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles, repair of personal & household goods”
- The company above it
- MIP HOLDINGS LTD, number 12981062, status “Active”, incorporated 28 October 2020, group accounts to 30 June 2025 filed 9 April 2026; a PSC02 filed 20 February 2026 notifies As 2019 Limited, number 12074828, status “Active”, incorporated 28 June 2019, at “Ownership of shares – More than 25% but not more than 50%” and “Ownership of voting rights – More than 25% but not more than 50%”
- Declared origin
- India 17, Hong Kong 3 on 20 records read
- Indian warranty or returns
- Watches: one year on an analogue watch’s movement, six months on smartwatch software, returns “within 5 days from the date of delivery”, honoured by the Indian watch storefront for its own sales only. Clothing: none found
- Price band in India
- T-shirts at a median MRP of ₹2,299 against ₹849.50 paid; watches at a median MRP of ₹13,995 against ₹4,496.50 paid; read 26 September 2026
- The shelf
- One brand facet on a large Indian marketplace, 4,261 listings; t-shirts at 37.0% of MRP and watches at 32.1% across 30 listings each; seller of record Truecom Retail on 20 of 20 records; 26 September 2026
Who owns French Connection
The owner is FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED, number 01410568, status “Active”, incorporated on 19 January 1979 and named FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP PLC from 20 October 1983 to 15 November 2021. Its shares came off the FCA’s Official List and the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market at 8.00 a.m. (London time) on 8 November 2021.
Four UK companies carry the name at that address and sign different documents; the 2016 innerwear licensor is French Connection Limited, 01069342, not the parent.
The change of control: an announcement of 4 October 2021 records MIP’s acquisition of the entire share capital by a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act at 30 pence a share, approximately £28.98 million, and the court sanctioned the scheme on 5 November 2021. A PSC02 filed 20 February 2026 notifies As 2019 Limited at “More than 25% but not more than 50%” of shares and of voting rights, notified 23 January 2026; a quarter to a half of the parent is a significant holding, not control, so the owner remains MIP Holdings Ltd.
What the owner publishes about its money is thin: accounts to 30 June 2025 were filed on 11 April 2026 and a register mirror carries stated capital of 966,129 GBP, but the figures inside are on neither the register’s summary pages nor the mirrors read, so none is printed here; the only recent figure found is a market-data service’s summary of a half-year announcement to 31 July 2021.
India’s official trade-mark search stops at a step a person completes by hand, which was not used, so every register reading here comes off a public mirror that shortens proprietor names.
| Application no. | Mark | Class | Proprietor, shortened as the mirror shortens it | Filed on | Status as printed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1467615 | French Connection | 25 | French Connection Public Limited, 20 22 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4JS, United Kingdom | 06 Jul 2006 | “Registered” |
| 1864534 | French Connection | 14 | French Connection Public Limited, First Floor, Centro One, 39 Plender Street, London, United Kingdom NW1 0DT | 18 Sep 2009 | “Registered” |
| 793780 | Fcuk | 25 | French Connection | 04 Mar 1998 | “Registered” |
| 1864535 | Fcuk | 14 | French Connection | 18 Sep 2009 | “Registered” |
| 8024048 | French Connection (Stylised) | 99 | French Connection | 25 Sep 2026 | “Send To Vienna Codification” |
| 8024050 | Fcuk (Stylised) | 99 | French Connection | 25 Sep 2026 | “Send To Vienna Codification” |
Read on the mirror, 26 September 2026. Class 99 is its multi-class marker; no detail record is published for either 2026 application, so the classes inside them are not established.
A record appoints no distributor and authorises no shop. Both classes stand in a foreign proprietor’s name, so the Indian clothing licensee and the Indian watch seller are licensees, not proprietors, and neither anchor record publishes a registered-user field, so nothing can be said either way about any Indian licensee. The class-25 record prints “Valid Until 06 July 2026” beside “Registration Renewed For A Period Of 10 Years From 06/07/2016” while its status still prints “Registered”; whether a renewal has been recorded was not established, and nothing here says the mark has ended.
The phrase is crowded: a class 30 snack label “Registered”, Muniraj Synthetics in class 24 “Withdrawn”, Panjwani Foods in class 32 “Formalities Chk Pass”, “Fcuk Films” in class 41 “Registered”, and “Hindware French Collection” and “Fresh Connection To India” as noise.
How French Connection reaches India
The route is licence, not subsidiary. The Indian companies register carries no Indian company using the brand name; a search returns one entity that does, FRENCH CONNECTION LTD., FCRN F01020, status “Active”, registered 1 April 1979 at ROC Delhi, and no document read links F01020 to the UK clothing company. The owner’s own April 2026 statement settles what it does here itself.
In Hong Kong, India, Turkey and Poland we have buying offices staffed with French Connection employees which allows us to monitor standards of factories directly.
French Connection Modern Slavery Statement 2026, made for French Connection UK Limited and MIP Holdings Limited, dated April 2026; read 26 September 2026. Its signatory is a director, not named here.
A buying office is a sourcing function: not a shop, not a seller to Indian shoppers. The clothing licensee’s name fails to match the register: the April 2023 release names “Myntra Jabong Private Limited”, no company of exactly that name is there, and the register carries MYNTRA JABONG INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, a “Subsidiary of company incorporated outside India”, and separately MYNTRA DESIGNS PRIVATE LIMITED. The strings are not merged here, and which takes the money was not established.
The watches come through a shop. The Indian watch storefront says “As part of ILG India Fashion, we bring globally renowned watch brands to India”; behind it is ILG INDIA FASHION LLP, status “Active”, a Mumbai retail LLP with a ₹1.0 lakh contribution obligation. No document read names the watch licence holder for India or anywhere else.
- The UK proprietorClass 25 for cloth, class 14 for watches
- Clothing, April 2023A “sole right” to design and distribute, to a Myntra entity
- Innerwear, April 2016A separate “exclusive licence”, India only
- WatchesA licensed category sold by a Mumbai LLP, which guarantees them
- The buying officeThe owner’s India presence — sourcing, outside all three
The owner’s licensed-and-franchised store table, stated as at 31 January 2020, shows why licences and not shops are the story.
| Licensed & franchised, as the page groups it | Locations | Sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| UK/Europe | 2 | 2,553 |
| Middle East | 7 | 11,678 |
| Australia | 148 | 75,013 |
| Hong Kong | 0 | 0 |
| India | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 173 | 103,036 |
The owner’s “Our Business” page, read 26 September 2026; North America and Other rows omitted. Operated locations at the same date: 81 locations, 131,093 sq ft.
The 2016 report records that the brand “had previously entered the Indian market in 2008” and “operated 240 retail points across 53 cities with 55,000 square feet of retail space”; the table shows India at zero as at 31 January 2020. They count different things six years apart, and neither is a direction of travel.
French Connection on the shelf
The brand facet on a large Indian marketplace printed 4,261 listings on 26 September 2026. The first forty in facet order had a median MRP of ₹3,449 against ₹1,499 paid, 43.5% of MRP with all forty reduced, a blended figure. Read separately, thirty listings each, t-shirts stood at a median MRP of ₹2,299 against ₹849.50 paid, 37.0%, and watches at ₹13,995 against ₹4,496.50, 32.1%.
A declared-manufacturer field answers a legal question, not a geographical one. Indian packaging rules want a nameable party standing behind anything offered for sale, and that field is where the name goes, which makes it the address a complaint travels to.
| Field | What the 20 records printed |
|---|---|
| Seller of record | Truecom Retail on 20 of 20 |
| Country of origin | India on 17, Hong Kong on 3 |
| Declared manufacturer | Eight distinct entries, including “Thomas Scott (India) Ltd” at two Kewal Industrial Estate addresses on 5, “STYLE STONE LLP” at Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon on 3, and “ILG ASIA LIMITED” at New East Ocean Centre on 2 |
| Importer | “ILG INDIA FASHION LLP” on 3 |
| Article types in the sample | Tshirts 8, Watches 3, Skirts 2, Jackets 2 |
Twenty listings’ declaration fields, read 26 September 2026, names as printed. “ILG ASIA LIMITED” and “ILG INDIA FASHION LLP” are different strings, not treated here as one company.
The importer line on three records names the Mumbai LLP that sells and guarantees the watches, while a Kewal Industrial Estate company and a Gurgaon LLP appear on the manufacturer line: one facet, two trades, and the brand owner on none of the lines read. A second Indian storefront carries the brand with “Buy original French Connection products online in India.” and names no owner, importer or licensee; why, beside a “sole right” grant, was not established.
Where French Connection is made
Country of origin read India on 17 of the 20 records and Hong Kong on 3, and Manufactured By is not a factory: it proves only that a company has signed for those goods. The owner’s statement puts manufacture in “China, India, Bangladesh and Turkey with specialist products also manufactured in other European and Asian countries”, says the group uses “third party production facilities around the world”, names a “Supplier Manual Code of Conduct” and is “working towards implementing a formal audit procedure”; no supplier count, no factory list, no certifier.
The three licences, and who granted them
The brand’s licensing page lists fifteen licensed categories — “FRAGRANCE”, “SUNGLASSES”, “SOFAS”, “LINGERIE”, “FOOTWEAR” and “WATCHES” among them — and one exists for one country: “Available in our India market only, we offer an exclusive range of men’s briefs, trunks, boxers and PJ bottoms.” That page names two licensee companies in all, neither for watches.
| Category | Document and date | Grantor, as named | Grantee, as named | Terms as stated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clothing | The licensee’s announcement, carried in full by three outlets, 20–21 April 2023 | French Connection Group | “Myntra Jabong Private Limited” | “the sole right to design, and distribute French Connection and FCUK in India, across all channels of distribution”; men’s t-shirts, shirts, jeans and women’s t-shirts, tops, jeans, dresses; a brand store on the licensee’s platform plus “authorised distributors and third-party franchise partners”. Duration not stated in any of the three reports |
| Men’s innerwear | A news agency report, 7 April 2016 | French Connection Limited (UK 01069342) | Oban Fashions, “a wholly-owned subsidiary” of Rupa & Co | Rights “to develop, manufacture, market and sell the innerwear and related products with the brand name ‘FCUK’ in India”, called an “exclusive licence”. Territory India; duration and royalty not disclosed |
| Watches | The licensor’s own licensing page, read 26 September 2026 | Not stated | Not named, for any territory | “WATCHES” listed as one of fifteen licensed categories. In India the watches are sold, and their guarantee honoured, by a Mumbai retail LLP |
The licence documents and the licensor’s own page, read 26 September 2026.
The clothing deal never settles to one label: one report calls it “master distribution rights in India”, the licensor says “our India licensee”, the licensee says “licensing partnership”, and only one of the three uses the word exclusive. Everything that document says carries its April 2023 date, since nothing later renewing, varying or ending it was found, and whether the 2016 innerwear licence subsists was not established either.
Returns, warranty and who answers
Read the exclusion before the cover. The Indian watch storefront gives one year on an analogue watch’s movement and six months on smartwatch software — honoured by “Luxury Gallery”, only for “products purchased from the official Luxury Gallery webpage”, and expressly excluding “Non – Luxury Gallery Watches”. The name is on the dial; the promise belongs to the shop.
| Term | The Indian watch storefront | The brand’s own United Kingdom storefront |
|---|---|---|
| Return window | “within 5 days from the date of delivery” | 28 days from the date of purchase |
| Condition required | “in its original condition”, “unused”, “no scratches, marks or dents”, with “proof of purchase and the original warranty card, along with the original packaging” | Not restated on the returns page read; the exclusions are “earrings, underwear, swimsuits, or swim bottoms” unless faulty |
| Who repays, and when | The seller’s service centre, “to the same account from which the payment was originally received”, in a “minimum of 7 to 10 business days* from the date that the returned product is inspected and passed by the quality control team” | “Refunds will be credited to the original method of payment”, and “Allow up to 10 working days for your refund to be processed once it has been received” |
| Return postage | “OUR customer care will schedule the pick up of the product from the customer with no CHARGES.” | Free for UK addresses on orders paid in GBP; overseas customers bear the cost, and “We do not currently offer free returns on homeware or Items bought in our retail stores.” |
| Company named on the page | None. The terms of service print “[INSERT TRADING NAME]”, “[INSERT BUSINESS ADDRESS]” and “[INSERT BUSINESS REGISTRATION NUMBER]”, with governing law given as the “laws of India”; the contact page gives a mobile number and an email on another domain, and no company name, office address, GSTIN or CIN | Two companies with numbers — 00996609 for the main storefront and 01222335 for EU deliveries — named in the terms of use rather than on the returns page |
| Grievance officer | None named on the warranty page, the refund policy, the terms of service or the contact page | None published on the pages read |
Both shops’ own policy pages, read 26 September 2026. The bracketed strings are quoted as printed that day.
Five days here against 28 there is the sharpest line on the page, and the company a watch buyer contracts with appears only on the companies register.
The clothing side answers less. No warranty for French Connection clothing in India was found published by anybody, and the platform’s shopper-facing terms, contact and grievance pages were not readable on 26 September 2026, so no window, refund holder or grievance officer is printed for clothing; one Indian label’s own paperwork on this is in our audit of that dresses label.
What French Connection costs in India
This site gives French Connection no price tier; the two shelves under one facet are two businesses.
| Reading | Listings | Median MRP | Median paid | Paid as % of MRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-shirts, category filter | 30 | ₹2,299 | ₹849.50 | 37.0% |
| Watches, category filter | 30 | ₹13,995 | ₹4,496.50 | 32.1% |
| First forty in facet order, blended | 40 | ₹3,449 | ₹1,499 | 43.5% |
One brand facet on a large Indian marketplace, read 26 September 2026. The pound and rupee figures sit side by side unconverted; the page works out no gap between them.
The home market gives an anchor and a caution. On the brand’s own United Kingdom storefront the Organic Cotton White Crew Neck T-Shirt, 569ZE1001, shows “£19”. The caution: the 2023 release gives the licensee “the sole right to design” for India, so an Indian t-shirt is a licensee’s garment carrying the name, not 569ZE1001 in pounds, and no gap is computed; compare paperwork instead, as our audit of a department-store chain’s in-house labels can. That t-shirt page says “Our organic cotton t-shirts have been made with 100% organic cotton yarn which has been certified by the global organic textile standard.”, with no certification body or certificate number beside it; the jeans pages give “Fabric: cotton, soft, stretch, black” and no fibre percentage.
Checking a French Connection is genuine
The brand publishes no dealer list and no counterfeit statement on any page read. The checks below come from the declaration fields and the guarantee terms.
Read the importer and manufacturer lines
On 20 records read 26 September 2026, “ILG INDIA FASHION LLP” was the importer on 3 and “Thomas Scott (India) Ltd” the manufacturer on 5. The brand owner is on none; the company printed there answers a complaint.
Match the origin to the declaration
Country of origin read India on 17 and Hong Kong on 3, and the owner lists India among its manufacturing countries, so an Indian origin is no tell either way. The box must name a party.
Compare the price with the shelf’s own median
T-shirts sold at 37.0% of MRP and watches at 32.1% on 26 September 2026, so a deep reduction alone proves nothing; the UK “£19” t-shirt is not a comparison.
Buy the watch from the shop whose guarantee you want
The cover is only for “products purchased from the official Luxury Gallery webpage”, and “Non – Luxury Gallery Watches” are excluded. Keep the invoice, the warranty card and the box; a return needs all three.
The record in India
The one decided matter on this page was decided in London, the court’s sanction of the scheme of arrangement on 5 November 2021, and it decides only itself. This page carries no Indian court or tribunal matter naming the brand, and nobody has ruled on anything else on it — not on how far “sole” reaches in the 2023 licence, on any trade-mark record above, on any warranty or returns term, or on any declaration field read. Nothing here is a finding against any company.
Who French Connection is actually for
French Connection in India suits a buyer who wants the British name at the day’s marketplace price: the t-shirt is a licensee’s garment, sold by Truecom Retail on every record read, median MRP ₹2,299, paid ₹849.50; the watch is a licensed category sold and guaranteed by ILG INDIA FASHION LLP, median MRP ₹13,995, paid ₹4,496.50. A buyer who wants one company to answer for the name, as in our audit of a platform’s own womenswear label, will not find it on the pages read.
Common questions
Who owns French Connection?
FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED, UK company number 01410568, status “Active”, a private limited company incorporated on 19 January 1979 and a public company until 15 November 2021. Above it sits MIP HOLDINGS LTD, number 12981062, status “Active”, after a scheme of arrangement the court sanctioned on 5 November 2021. As 2019 Limited holds “More than 25% but not more than 50%” of the parent’s shares and voting rights, notified 23 January 2026, which is a significant holding and not control.
Which company sells French Connection clothing in India?
The April 2023 announcement names “Myntra Jabong Private Limited” as taking “the sole right to design, and distribute French Connection and FCUK in India, across all channels of distribution”. No company of exactly that name is on the Indian register, which carries MYNTRA JABONG INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, CIN U74900KA2015FTC079383, status “Active”, alongside MYNTRA DESIGNS PRIVATE LIMITED, CIN U72300KA2007PTC041799, paid-up capital ₹10,24,75,405. Which of the two takes a shopper’s money was not established. On 20 marketplace records read 26 September 2026 the seller of record was Truecom Retail on all 20.
Are French Connection watches made by the clothing company?
No. Watches are filed in class 14, record 1864534, status “Registered”, valid to 18 September 2029, while clothing sits in class 25 under record 1467615; both stand in one UK proprietor’s name, so the watch is a licensed category carrying the clothing brand’s name. In India the watches are sold by ILG INDIA FASHION LLP, LLPIN AAQ-2235, status “Active”, which honours the guarantee. No document read names the holder of the watch licence for India or anywhere else.
What warranty and returns do I get on a French Connection watch in India?
One year on an analogue watch’s movement and six months on smartwatch software, honoured by “Luxury Gallery” only for “products purchased from the official Luxury Gallery webpage”, with “Non – Luxury Gallery Watches” excluded. Returns run “within 5 days from the date of delivery” with the warranty card and packaging; pickup is free; and money goes back to the paying account in a stated minimum of 7 to 10 business days after inspection. The brand’s own United Kingdom storefront gives 28 days. No grievance officer is named on that Indian shop’s pages, and its terms of service print bracketed placeholders where its name should be.
The class-25 record shows a validity date that has passed. Has the mark ended?
Nothing read says so, and this page does not. On the mirror read 26 September 2026, record 1467615 prints “Valid Until 06 July 2026” beside the note “Registration Renewed For A Period Of 10 Years From 06/07/2016”, and its status still prints “Registered”. Whether a renewal has been brought on record was not established, and no tribunal or court has ruled on the standing of any record on this page. Two further applications, 8024048 and 8024050, were filed on 25 September 2026 in class 99, both reading “Send To Vienna Codification”.
References
- Companies House, FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP LIMITED (01410568) — status “Active”, private limited, incorporated 19 January 1979, the Plender Street office, the previous name FRENCH CONNECTION GROUP PLC from 20 October 1983 to 15 November 2021, accounts last made up to 30 June 2025 and the confirmation statement of 7 July 2026; with its filing history for the consolidated parent company accounts and the audit exemption subsidiary accounts to 30 June 2025, both filed 11 April 2026. Also FRENCH CONNECTION LIMITED (01069342) and FRENCH CONNECTION UK LIMITED (01222335), both status “Active”; all read 26 September 2026
- Companies House, MIP HOLDINGS LTD (12981062) — status “Active”, incorporated 28 October 2020, the same Plender Street building; with its filing history for group accounts to 30 June 2025 filed 9 April 2026 and the PSC02 of 20 February 2026, and its persons-with-significant-control register for As 2019 Limited, number 12074828, the two quoted natures of control and the notification date of 23 January 2026; individual holders are not named here. With the register entry for AS 2019 LIMITED (12074828) — status “Active”, incorporated 28 June 2019; all read 26 September 2026
- FCA National Storage Mechanism, announcement of 5 November 2021 — the de-listing and the cancellation of admission to trading taking effect “at 8.00 a.m. (London time) on 8 November 2021” and the scheme’s remaining condition; read 26 September 2026. With the recommended-acquisition announcement of 4 October 2021 for 30 pence per share, approximately £28.98 million and the quoted Part 26 scheme wording, and the announcement list for the former ticker FCCN for “Court Sanction of Scheme of Arrangement” on 5 November 2021 and the meeting results of 1 November 2021; both read 26 September 2026
- A UK register mirror for company 01410568 — stated capital 966,129 GBP and accounts last made up to 30 June 2025, with no turnover, profit, net-asset or employee figure published; read 26 September 2026. With a market-data service’s financials page, carrying only a report of a half-year announcement for the period ended 31 July 2021 — a summary of an announcement and not the announcement; read 26 September 2026
- A public mirror of the Indian trade-mark register, all read 26 September 2026 — record 1467615 for class 25, the goods wording, the proprietor string and Bedford Row address, status “Registered”, the filing date of 06 July 2006, the claimed date of use of 01 May 1979, “Valid Until 06 July 2026” and the note “Registration Renewed For A Period Of 10 Years From 06/07/2016”; record 1864534 for class 14, the goods wording, the Plender Street address, validity to 18 September 2029, the renewal from 18 September 2019 and the address alteration of 27 February 2019; and the searches for the brand name and the four-letter mark for the class 25, 14, 3, 9, 18 and 24 rows, the two class 99 applications filed 25 September 2026 reading “Send To Vienna Codification”, and the third-party rows quoted with their statuses. Neither anchor record publishes a registered-user field, and applicants who are private individuals are not named here
- Indian companies-register mirrors, all read 26 September 2026: the search for the brand name, returning only FRENCH CONNECTION LTD. and one unrelated private company, with the record for FRENCH CONNECTION LTD. (F01020) for status “Active”, the 1 April 1979 registration, the Foreign Company type, ROC Delhi and the registered office as printed, with capital, activity code, last AGM and balance-sheet fields behind the mirror’s paid tier; MYNTRA JABONG INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED and MYNTRA DESIGNS PRIVATE LIMITED for their CINs, statuses, sub-categories, capital figures and activity codes; and ILG INDIA FASHION LLP (AAQ-2235) for status “Active”, the 09 August 2019 incorporation, the Andheri East address, the ₹1.0 lakh contribution obligation and the retail-trade activity description
- French Connection Modern Slavery Statement 2026 — made for French Connection UK Limited and MIP Holdings Limited, covering “the financial year ending 30th June 2025”, dated April 2026: the manufacturing countries quoted, the quoted buying-office sentence, “third party production facilities around the world”, the “Supplier Manual Code of Conduct”, “third party audit documentation” and “working towards implementing a formal audit procedure”, with no supplier count, factory list, share by country or certifier named; read 26 September 2026. The signatory is a director and is not named here
- French Connection, “Our Business” — the “more than 50 countries” description and distribution channels, the licensed-and-franchised store table stated as at 31 January 2020 including India at 0 locations and 0 sq ft and a total of 173 locations and 103,036 sq ft, and the 81 operated locations at the same date; read 26 September 2026
- French Connection, “Licensing” — the fifteen licensed product categories including “WATCHES”, the quoted watch description, and the India-only wording “Available in our India market only, we offer an exclusive range of men’s briefs, trunks, boxers and PJ bottoms.”; read 26 September 2026
- The licensee’s announcement of 21 April 2023, carried in full — the quoted “sole right to design, and distribute French Connection and FCUK in India, across all channels of distribution”, the licensor’s quoted description of the licensee as its India licensee, the licensee’s “licensing partnership” wording and the categories named; read 26 September 2026. With a trade report of 21 April 2023 for the “master distribution rights” wording and the “authorised distributors and third-party franchise partners” sentence, and a trade report of 20 April 2023, which mentions no other licensed category; neither of the two uses the word exclusive, and all three read 26 September 2026
- A news agency report of 7 April 2016 — Oban Fashions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rupa & Co, obtaining from French Connection Limited the quoted rights over FCUK innerwear in India on an “exclusive licence”, with duration and royalty not disclosed, and the record that the brand “had previously entered the Indian market in 2008” and then “operated 240 retail points across 53 cities with 55,000 square feet of retail space”; read 26 September 2026
- The Indian watch storefront, all read 26 September 2026: its About page for the quoted “As part of ILG India Fashion” sentence, the brand list and the two authenticity claims quoted; its warranty page for the one-year movement cover, the six-month smartwatch cover, the quoted exclusions and the support address; its refund policy for the five-day window, the free pickup, the refund route and the 7 to 10 business day timeline; its terms of service, which print bracketed placeholders where a trading name, business address, registration number and VAT number belong and give the governing law as the “laws of India”; and its contact page, carrying a mobile number and an email address on another domain and no company name, office address, GSTIN, CIN or grievance officer. The email address in the terms carries an individual’s name and is not reproduced. With International Luxury Group’s own site, which describes a watch, accessory, eyewear and fragrance design-and-distribution business and names neither French Connection nor FCUK on the page read
- French Connection terms and conditions — “French Connection (London) Limited” (00996609) as the trading entity and “French Connection UK Limited” (01222335) for EU deliveries, both at the Plender Street address; the “as is” and “as available” wording; and the absence of any authorised-retailer or counterfeit statement; read 26 September 2026. With the returns page — 28 days, “Refunds will be credited to the original method of payment”, up to 10 working days, free UK returns in GBP with homeware and store purchases excepted, and the exclusion of “earrings, underwear, swimsuits, or swim bottoms”; read 26 September 2026
- The Organic Cotton White Crew Neck T-Shirt product page — “£19”, “100% Organic cotton”, the quoted global-organic-textile-standard sentence, the 73cm size M length and “Machine wash cold recommended”; read 26 September 2026. With the men’s t-shirt product feed for style codes 569ZE1001 to 569ZE1006 and the value 19.00 with no currency field, and the men’s jeans feed for 54ZZA0101, the value 55.00 and “Fabric: cotton, soft, stretch, black” with no fibre percentage; both read 26 September 2026
- A second Indian storefront’s French Connection brand page — the line “Buy original French Connection products online in India.” with no brand owner, importer, licensee or seller named anywhere on it; read 26 September 2026
- The brand facet and its listing pages on a large Indian marketplace, 26 September 2026 — 4,261 listings on the facet; 40 read in facet order, led by 15 t-shirts, 5 shirts, 4 dresses, 4 trolley bags and 3 watches, median MRP ₹3,449 and median selling price ₹1,499 at 43.5% of MRP with all 40 reduced; a category-filtered reading of 30 t-shirt listings at median MRP ₹2,299 and median paid ₹849.50, which is 37.0% of MRP; a category-filtered reading of 30 watch listings at median MRP ₹13,995 and median paid ₹4,496.50, which is 32.1% of MRP; and, from 20 records’ own declaration fields, the seller of record on 20 of 20, country of origin India on 17 and Hong Kong on 3, the eight declared manufacturers with the three named entries and their counts, the importer entry on 3, and the article types in the sample. Company names are reproduced as the fields printed them, truncations included
Ownership answers in two lines: a private British company under a holding company in the same London building, a court-sanctioned takeover behind it, no revenue figure since. What no document gives a shopper is one company to deal with — three grants in three categories, and no Indian company using the name.
At the shelf it sharpens. One facet holds t-shirts at 37.0% of MRP and watches at 32.1%. The watch guarantee belongs to the shop that sold it, not to watches bought elsewhere; the window is five days against 28 on the owner’s own storefront; and on clothing nobody publishes a guarantee or a grievance officer.
Buy the clothes as a licensee’s clothes at the day’s price, and buy the watch only from the shop whose guarantee you would rely on — because here the name on the dial owes you nothing.
