Fashion! Fashion! Fashion! Everywhere fashion. In the world, where each and every country has its own sets of fashion brands and labels and millions of influencers who enjoy the perks of limelight promoting fashion, India, too, doesn’t lag behind. In our country, too, many fashion enthusiasts are aiming to make their fashion and styling sense a worldwide statement and are aiming to achieve the same.
Flatheads are one such team of young professionals filled with renewed enthusiasm and vigor working towards building a retail brand in the footwear space. These are fresher in the already vast fashion and apparel industry yet are enjoying much popularity in the market.
This team is trying to conquer the fashion world one step at a time and it’s their patience and the pledge to provide quality service that makes it so different from others in the market and we totally love it.
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Flatheads is a D2C distribution channel that wants to engage directly with its customers, fostered by a unique brand identity and a clear value proposition. India is witnessing a mounting rise in the number of D2C brands across categories and is estimated to become a 100 billion market in the coming decade.
Flatheads as a company understand the growing demands of the market and recording the hike in the number of digital buyers, reaching 70.7% in the FY20, it willingly takes up the opportunity as a brand to go the D2C way.
The milestone setters, or simply the founders of the brand Flatheads, are Ganesh Balakrishnan and Utkarsh Biradar. Being shoe freaks themselves, their main motive or goal behind the establishment of their brand is to provide an ideal pair of shoes for everyday use that would be cushiony, breathable, and lightweight, which is perfect for vigorous and tough use in the tropical Indian climate and all these facilities at a very reasonable rate.
Overspending thousands and thousands on international and high-end brands and still looking for the comfort to suit your ankles, one can simply spend on buying the all-in-one and very comfortable Flatheads shoes. These shoes are way too comfortable and affordable. It fits in your pockets and hence, can be the best choice for you.
After doing a fair deal of research on the product development, fabrics to be used, and the sets of consumer researches to understand the use case of the shoes to manufacture that will be the best to sell in the Indian market, Utkarsh Biradar and Ganesh Balakrishnan came up with Flatheads to appeal the Indian heads.
The team has taken extreme care in its product building and is very precise. It aims to bring up the best products for the customers that shake up the entire footwear space. Special emphasis has been laid on the development and manufacturing of the products and their marketing.
The Flatheads shoes are manufactured in a completely different manner than most of the other counterparts. The materials used for the manufacture of the products here are also very different. It’s a whole lot of a very new and innovative style of manufacturing of the shoes in the footwear industry.
The Flathead uppers are made using the knit fabric that gives the shoes a very fashionable look and makes them ultralight, breathable and it fits in very easily around the last as single light wear, flexible, and highly shock resistance insoles and soles.
In October 2019, it launched three product lines namely Ooof, Kapow, and Vronk to serve the different shoe fitting needs of its customers in the market.
- Of line, the collection endorses medium-fitting shoes.
- Kapow line collection endorses tight-fitting shoe
- Vronk line collection endorses relaxed-fitting shoes.
Also, more recently in November 2020, this gave their innovative ideas and out-of-the-box thinking ability a new shape in the form of the Aurea range of shoes that are made from bamboo.
These bamboo shoes are the future of the shoemaking industry. Now, we can have leather shoes, bamboo shoes and expect any other variety of shoe categories to pop up soon.
The Indian shoe market is $ 10 billion in size and is rapidly growing by 15% per annum. Thus, it sees a clear opportunity to build up a multi-million ($100 million) dollar brand in the coming decade.
The team and the workforce at Flatheads are completely focused on providing the best services at a cheaper rate that suits the pockets of the Indian middle-class. Just to serve this purpose i.e. keep the shoemaking prices low, the team decided to keep their products limited to basic three layers only including the upper, sole, and insole with monochromatic designs.
It mainly use social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook for a focused ad-based targeting of the Indian working middle-class.
It claim that their fundraising process is unconventional and has raised almost 5 crores INR through the angels. With the massive development and growth of the company along with their exceptionally innovative and out-of-the-blue working ideas, the company has successfully allured many investors.
They are continuously striving to become net marketing +ve. The very next goal in the Flatheads to do note list is to actually become an EBITDA +ve brand/company.
At the very first step, the company aimed to provide the most comfortable and flexible footwear to its customers, which the massy HRX, Roadster, UPSA, etc., shoe companies would never be able to provide.
The main and the most important goal is to manufacture such comfortable and lightweight shoes that the customers really feel like that they are wearing socks, instead of shoes.
Flatheads is also very enthusiastic and are always keen to actively participate in new discoveries. The company always takes the front foot when it comes to innovating the new blends and designs for their customers and has recently launched a new ship on lounger called Troos made of Bamboo blended with natural fibers.
The incessant trials to make a firm place for itself in the market and in the customer’s heart, along with experimenting with new fads and ideas, is what makes it a favorite. Manufacturing the best products and coming up with the new fads in the market is something Flatheads wants to continue to push.
With this mindset and a mountain-sized determination, it’s no doubt that Flatheads indeed will attain its unicorn mark very soon. The business will soon expand far and wide if they continue to work at this pace. This is an Indian undertaking and such “made in India” ownerships not only raise their brand value but also hike the country’s economy.
The company is indeed a small contributor to the “Aatamnirbhar Bharat”. We all want India to hit a trillion economy mark, which it is estimated to be by 2025-2030 and the making of this starts with, we Indians choosing the made in India over the others.
So, it’s advised to choose the swadeshi over the videshi, not only to support your economy but also to save your money. When this can give you a Nike experience or even better at just Rs. 2000-5000, then why spend Rs. 15000-20000 for the same? It makes no sense. So, my lovely country’s people, flatheads make you look fashionable and classy and save your rupees.
Hence, go check the company’s profile, and bless me with your feedback. Till then, keep the Aatamnirbhar spirit up and stay safe and healthy.
Kaushiki Rajhan is an expert content writer specializing in listicles, biographies, and case studies of startups and brands. With a passion for storytelling and a keen eye for detail, she crafts engaging and informative content that highlights the journeys and successes of businesses. Kaushiki’s work combines in-depth research with a clear, accessible writing style, making complex topics easy to understand and captivating for readers.
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