Walking the niche- Chappers

The Indian footwear market is currently worth over $23 billion and growing at a CAGR of 6.77% (2022-2027). Chappers is one of the fastest-growing players in this category, registering a 30% Y-O-Y revenue growth

Chappers is a custom footwear brand, founded by Harshwardhan Patwardhan. The brand initially started out as a men’s footwear brand and gained love and support from celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Nitin Gadkari, Raj Thackeray, and many more. Starting off with men’s footwear the brand is now moving to women’s footwear and to the Kiosk model. With four retail outlets in Pune, the brand is eyeing aggressive growth in 2022. Through online mode, the brand has reached close to twenty-seven countries already. “Customized footwear is a niche category we are trying to establish, and as of now, there
is no standard market size or data available. However, considering the demand that Chappers is receiving, there is no doubt that the market will grow exponentially in the years to come,” Harshwardhan comments.

He adds, “We have also introduced a low-cost inventory-free model of footwear retail driven by technology and offers unmatched growth and revenue generation potential. Such practices were missing from the retail footwear sector in the past. When we launched, we picked up the iconic Maharashtrian Kolhapuri chappals and gave them a modern makeover in terms of colours, materials, and designs. Post the fantastic response, we have ventured into many more variants and strategies for both men and women”.

Growing with power

With an eye on innovation and the zeal to break existing trends with new takes, Chappers has built an innovative model that integrates AR into its retail process in a way that only major global brands have done so far. AR enables customers to visualize their shoes and decide their look and feel. Since the customers dene precisely how the shoe must look and what materials are to be used, the AR tool helps us reduce the wastage of raw materials alongside enhancing the nish of the products. “We can automate the entire manufacturing process, and these savings on raw materials lead to better profit margins and business growth for the brand. Further, the technology-driven approach has eliminated the need for extensive inventories and waiting for the customers to choose the shoes that have been made. Often many pairs remain unsold and contribute to the wastage in the typical inventory-driven model. At Chappers, we keep only 25-30 bestselling designs in ready-to-wear condition at all outlets for customers who urgently need to buy footwear,” Harshwardhan adds.

Chappers’ patented virtual customization software is the first of its kind in India that allows customers to create personalized designs in simple steps.

Taking the big leap

With a focus on making the indigenous idea of kolhapuri a global phenomenon, Harshwardhan is now planning to raise venture funding to fuel the brand’s growth plans. What he started initially with just 5 lakh rupees has already started to touch new heights with the right expansion moves. Chappers is always looking for ways to expand beyond the ordinary and keep a right hold on the market. Instead of selling from our outlets and through exhibitions and stalls as the brand used to do earlier, they had to pivot to an eCommerce model to keep the operations running after the pandemic. Today, customers can order from any city across India and get customized footwear delivered in 48 hours.

In terms of building the right marketing approach, Harshwardhan says, “We want to be the sore thumb, as that’s the easiest way to get noticed. Instead of spending vast amounts on social media ads, we create unique products, and people would want to look at them if not buy them immediately. That’s our way of finding our audience too. People who are comfortable wearing a bright neon Kolhapuri chappal are someone who would like to customize a sneaker in the future or maybe get a fabulous, studded sandal. Hence, we post that neon chappal to attract a very altered crowd of buyers”