Anand Ahuja’s VegNonVeg making a style declaration inside the developing industry of footwear in India

India is seeing lots of new matters and among them is the upward push of sneakerheads. Now, what are sneakerheads? People who acquire, trade and appreciate shoes are developing in quantity in the united states of America. And one of them is Sonam Kapoor’s husband Anand Ahuja, who wore a silver Nike for his wedding reception.
There are plenty of sneaker aficionados who’ve large collections of shoes and Ahuja is certainly one of them who began VegNonVeg, a multi-emblem sneaker save along with his friend Abhineet Singh.
VegNonVeg curates cream-of-the-crop shoes from Nike, Adidas Originals, Air Jordan, Puma, Vans, Reebok Classics, New Balance and Fila — all underneath the equal roof. Their collections variety from conventional and background fashions to their modern tech-infused opposite numbers, limited variants, and collaboration footwear.
Recently, VegNonVeg released a 2nd save in Delhi, taking the overall variety of stores in India to 3. The emblem had started out its journey in Delhi with the primary save release in 2016. Completing three years in 2019, VegNonVeg has plans to add some other in Bengaluru through mid-June or July this yr.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Ahuja said, “The market has grown in a feel that the entirety is greater informal now. Our workplace is extra informal now. The world has to turn out to be more casual so humans are opting for footwear. Secondly, human beings have grown to be greater lively. Third is that guys have now started questioning how we appearance. So, clothing is one issue and shoes is the second one component.”
He in addition defined, “In fact, I and a variety of people I understand spend extra on shoes than garments. For ladies, footwear is one greater new element to spend on however for guys sneakers are one issue to distinguish. It is straightforward to wear something loud and declaration-worth on your toes than sporting a leopard print t-blouse but you can put on a leopard print footwear and it will cross nicely with a black t-shirt.”
Along with VegNonVeg, Ahuja additionally founded Bhane, an apparel emblem in 2011.
An entrepreneur by using coronary heart, Ahuja finished his undergrads on the University of Pennsylvania and later studied at Wharton School. He also serves because of the director of Shahi Exports, certainly one of India’s biggest export houses.
But footwear is his passion and love. He has additionally featured in GQ India’s list of largest sneakerheads of Instagram, alongside actors Shah Rukh Khan and Varun Dhawan.
The sneaker subculture is priming in India and the proof of this is constrained edition sneakers getting sold out inside hours. Something similar changed into seen by using VegNonVeg after they collaborated with Italian sports activities logo FILA and launched restricted version Masala Mindblower footwear. Almost a hundred pairs of shoes stimulated via the silver masala dabba in Indian kitchens with the design, colorway and materials all coming from the splice box.
While businesses like Puma and Adidas are bringing their restricted edition footwear to India, sneaker fans say it is not enough.
And that’s why Ahuja feels it is essential to have brick and mortar shops in order that people can come and engage. VegNonVeg holds occasions and additionally, new launches take place in the shops.
VegNonVeg has a huge range of footwear, claims Ahuja. “The concept is to take the exceptional shoes from all other manufacturers, instructing the marketplace is ready what the culture is. One of our pleasant promoting shoes is Rs four,999 and footwear we launched with Fila is Rs nine,999 and one footwear we launched currently became Rs 24,999. So, we’ve got a massive variety and all additionally those 3 shoes are offered out,” he added.
Reportedly the sports clothing market in India has valued among Rs 3,500 crore to Rs five,000 crores in India and footwear shape an integral part of this phase. One cause for this is due to the fact India is turning into more fitness aware.
The pinnacle 4 sports shoe brands encompass Reebok, Adidas, Nike and Puma and they all positioned numerous emphasis on shoes. Puma has even launched self-lacing shoes.
With enterprise specialists waiting for the sports shoe zone to grow in India, the destiny of the sneaker enterprise seems brilliant within the united states of America.
However, there are challenges for human beings inquisitive about this enterprise. One of them isn’t getting big sales for top rate brands hence when movie celebrities opt for footwear it offers the shoe category a push.
Another project is not getting new releases to India and this is due to the fact brands nonetheless suppose that sneaker industry continues to be at a nascent level in the united states of America.
“The reason we could uniquely do VegNonVeg is that we’ve got different businesses also. So, for me, Bhane is there. So, whilst we started out, we hired the most effective one individual. Bhane had the logistics, we already had a warehouse, we knew how to do brand advent. So, we should type of use the assets we already had. So, the value becomes not anything,” stated Ahuja.