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Background:

Deepika Padukone, one of Bollywood’s highest-paid actors, started her career as a former professional badminton player before appearing in her first film, “Om Shanti Om,” in 2007, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. In 2017, she crossed over to Hollywood with the action film “XXX: Return of Xander Cage.” More recently, she’s become a force in fashion as a global brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, Adidas, Levi’s and Cartier.

Padukone grew up far from the limelight and was an outsider to both the film and fashion industries. Setting herself up on the global stage as a young Indian woman, she had to combat preconceptions at every corner, she said.

“Of course, the hustle is much harder [as an outsider]. You’ve got to wait much longer for the right opportunities,” she says. “But also, from my perspective, the gratification is so much more.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, BoF’s founder and editor-in-chief Imran Amed speaks with the actor and BoF 500 cover star about the highs and lows of her career and why India needs more recognition from the West on the global stage.

Key Insights:

• Padukone said her heritage is fundamental to who she is and how she represents herself on the global stage. “I just feel like India has so much to offer and I’ve been able to do everything that I do, just being Indian and being based out here,” she says. “In a way that feels authentic to me and to who I am.”
• Padukone says Indians are still stereotyped — especially in Hollywood. “You are the scientist. You are the computer geek. You are the taxi driver. You are the therapist. You are the owner of a convenience store,” she says. “I’ve had my fans ask me why I’ve not done more [global] movies. But that’s not what I’m settling for, because I am — and we are — so much more than that.”
• Padukone says fashion brands need to understand more about India’s rich heritage. “It’s extremely diverse. It’s not one India, it’s many Indias,” she says. “And as Indians, we’re also extremely proud of our history, our culture and our heritage.”
• After being diagnosed with clinical depression, Padukone felt the need to open up conversations about mental illness in India. “No one in India had spoken about it like this before, and it felt to me that there was this huge burden on our country’s shoulders that everyone was dealing with, but dealing with silently,” Padukone says.
• Padukone advises having patience for people who want to achieve their dreams. “I think the one thing that isn’t given enough importance to me is the power of patience,” she says. “Everything is instant gratification, but if there’s one thing that has worked for me it has been to be patient.”

Additional Resources:

• Deepika Padukone: The Bollywood Star That Fashion’s Megabrands Are Betting On: With India set to become the world’s third-largest fashion market, Bollywood’s most-popular actress has become a global brand ambassador for the likes of Levi’s, Adidas, Louis Vuitton and now, Cartier. In an exclusive interview with Imran Amed, she opens up about her global ambitions — and what the fashion world needs to understand about India.
• Deepika Padukone Is Cartier’s Newest Ambassador: The Bollywood actress and BoF 500 cover star signals the French jewellery house’s ambitions to broaden its reach among Indian consumers, both domestically and abroad.

Superdry Plc shares jumped as the UK fashion brand returned to profit after pandemic-induced losses.

The retailer, known for its logo T-shirts and bright colours, reported adjusted profit before tax of £21.9 million ($24 million), compared with a £12.6 million loss a year earlier. The shares rose as much as 13 percent in London.

The return to profit “marks an inflexion point that gives confidence in its positive long-term trajectory,” Wayne Brown, an analyst at Liberum, wrote in a note to clients. The gain in profitability “is a clear sign of brand health.”

Still, store visits to Superdry haven’t yet recovered to pre-Covid levels and the cost-of-living crisis is hitting consumer spending. Many apparel retailers are struggling as shoppers cut back on non-essential purchases.

“These are exceptional times for retail and for the economy more generally, and like all brands we’re having to work harder than ever to drive performance,” said chief executive Julian Dunkerton.

Superdry needs to refinance an asset-backed lending facility due at the end of January and said talks with lenders have been going well.

By Katie Linsell

Learn more:

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The German sportswear giant has broken its silence over the dispute with Ye, the artist and designer formerly known as Kanye West, who accused the brand of effectively shutting him out of his namesake sneaker line in a series of now-deleted Instagram posts in August and early September.

“After repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review,” an Adidas spokesperson told BoF in an email Thursday.

“We are proud of our team that has worked tirelessly throughout our collaboration with Ye and the iconic products that were born from it,” the statement added. “We also recognise that all successful partnerships are rooted in mutual respect and shared values.”

Ye’s representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The news comes days after Ye courted controversy once again at Paris Fashion Week, unleashing a torrent of Instagram posts attacking industry figures, some of whom had criticised the Monday night presentation of his YZYSZN9 collection, which featured a T-shirt emblazoned with “White Lives Matter,” a slogan widely associated with hate groups.

Terminating the Yeezy deal, which is set to run until 2026, would constitute a significant dent in Adidas’ revenues. Sales for Yeezy’s Adidas sneakers grew 31 percent year-on-year to nearly $1.7 billion in 2021, accounting for nearly 7 percent of the brand’s annual revenue, according to Bloomberg News, which cited private documents from banking firm UBS.

On Sept. 4, Ye claimed to his 17 million Instagram followers that Adidas had offered him a $1 billion buyout from his Yeezy venture.Ye also targeted Adidas’ chief executive, posting an image of a mock New York Times obituary, which read “Kaspar Rorsted also dead at 60.” Later, he posted a series of images singling out the brand’s senior vice president, Daniel Cherry III, as well as screenshots of the bios of members of the Adidas executive board.

Learn more:

The Ye and Adidas Conflict, Explained

The sportswear giant caught lightning in a bottle with its Yeezy partnership, but the artist’s accusations against the company have turned the deal sour.

13th October at 16:00 BST / 11:00 EDT

Featuring Isoken Igbinedion, co-founder and chief executive of Parfait, Simone Kendle, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Parfait and Tamison O’Connor, BoF correspondent in conversation with Sheena Butler-Young.

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