Quirky Shoes And Uptown Fashion? Funkfeets Is Your Answer

Initially, the journey was arduous, but once we got accustomed to it, we started enjoying the whole process, say Sanat Srivastava and Shashank, co-founders of Funkfeets.

Ideas are everywhere, you need to look around for them. Back in 2017, I did look around. I saw a person selling hand-painted shoes to earn some pocket-money. Those were the simple p.t shoes he was selling thrice the price of the original after painting them.

At that moment, I could see the magic of those painted shoes that could give you an all-new look by representing who you are. In the world of social media, being expressive is impressive. Funkfeets is the voice of that impression. We have theme-based sneakers that match the persona of a person. Funkfeets has a variety of products that suits one’s personality.

I wasn’t a big fan of start-ups and did not think of starting one. I did engineering from Ghaziabad and then MBA in international business. While I was preparing for my MBA exam, I met Shashank. He was the one enthusiastic about business. While he was preparing for CA, I came up with the idea of hand-painted sneakers. So I decided to work on it and we both joined hands to work on it. The company was registered in 2017 and operations started in January 2018.

I wanted to have a good job, earn decent money, but who could have thought that the idea of those cool sneakers would hijack my brain! Once I was introduced to the start-up world, I could see myself as an entrepreneur. I realized there are many challenges. In the initial two years, I had no choice but to work on the idea. Slowly I started having fun at work. Now there is no way of going back.

For three years, we were bootstrapped. Now we have some angel investors with us. We began with hand-painted sneakers that required a lot of effort. Hand-painted shoes are like customization. Even if we have the predesigned articles, the operational cost becomes too high.

So, we decided to go with the printed stuff. In late 2018, we got into the printed stuff. We have an asymmetrical design of our articles. In the world of printed sneakers, nobody is doing that. There are many competitors in the market. The asymmetrical design is our USP. Whenever someone wants to speak his/her personality, we have the elements printed on the sneaker.

My partner handles the operation part. Many freelancers are working with us. We have a team of ten people, including my partner and me. Two people handle the operation, and the rest are the artists. Shashank manages the operation, procurement and finance part while I do marketing, design and branding. Our understanding is such that we don’t ask or question each other’s work. Together we make a great team.

Funkfeets is expanding its presence on all e-commerce platforms. Bewakoof.com has launched us as an exclusive partner. Though most of our sales are from our channel, now we are exploring new markets like Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, etc.

For now, we have limited designs on our portal, 20-30. But we are aiming at increasing our scalability. We will be coming up with hundred plus designs in few months. It would be a challenge but a good one for our business.

We started Funkfeets with an experiment. One should always begin with planning. I had left my job and wanted to start a business but did not want to ask for money from home. So, the problem of lack of funds was always there. I started with two lakh rupees. One needs to have money back-up when starting a product-based start-up. Our growth was slow due to funds. Now we are picking up pace as the COVID situation has lightened up. People are ready to buy and go out.

For everyone, we have something interesting to give. If you like to travel, we have a tee and sneakers with the title #Banjari or #Banjara. You love the combination of black and white our products are there for you, you like all colours, we have the variety for you. You are a silent person, and we make sure your sneakers speak out for yourself.

The products we offer are unique and appealing in themselves, which sets us apart from all other brands. Funkfeets wants people to represent themselves. Everyone flaunts a tee or sneakers of the big brand, but how many of you can flaunt about yourself as proudly as you do with the brand? The clothes you wear are about yourself so expect more from your favourite brands. Customization is not only for a few. With Funkfeets, you can have your customized stuff.

Today buying clothes or shoes is not a big deal. With a chunk of money, you can fill your wardrobe, but the question is how do you want to fill it, and how you can look the best out of yourself. Thousands of people bought our products and showed their likeness towards them. We are thankful to all of them, and we wish to work more, to add one more pair of funky sneakers to your collection.

Funkfeets started selling shoes in 2018, but the journey began the moment I saw those painted-shoes. Today it has been more than three years since we started Funkfeets. I had the idea but it was only because of my partner and the team of Funkfeets we were able to convert it into reality.

So this was the journey of Sanat and Shashank, how they found a brand that people are falling in love with. They didn’t have a perfect plan for their business but what he had was more important than a plan. His passion for creating something meaningful motivated him to go through all hardships and continue his journey. We hope you enjoyed reading this story. Go to the feature section of The Balls Of Steel Show to read more of such inspiring stories, and go to the website of Funkfeets if you feel like shopping for some cool stuff.