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Interview with Divej Mehta & Deepesh Mehta

Divej Mehta & Deepesh Mehta
Divej Mehta & Deepesh Mehta
Founders
Inmate
Inmate

Bringing humanity to leather
Their core business being exporting genuine leather and agenting, it was in March 2018 that Divej Mehta and Deepesh Mehta decided to launch the brand 'Inmate' with the vision to offer high quality products handcrafted by inmates of different prisons. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, the founders discuss their journey from 30 pairs a month to almost 4000, and how the brand is looking to reimagine the modern traditional footwear segment.

What was the vision behind founding of the brand?

We are perhaps the first footwear brand in the world to manufacture footwear from the prisons of India. Giving a second chance to an inmate who is not criminal minded, mostly ends up being a blessing in disguise and this I can tell from the experience after training and rehabilitating over 200 convicted inmates.  The idea of giving a 'conscious' customer the opportunity to buy a high quality product handcrafted by inmates who are serving their time inside the prisons was unheard of and that led to launch the brand.
 

How does your supply chain network work? What regions of the world is part of your supply chain?

Our core business being exporting genuine leather and agenting definitely helps in procuring raw material from LWG Gold Rated tanneries. 90 per cent of our raw material comes from various parts of the country. However, we are still growing as a component industry in India and certain items can only be procured from countries like China and Italy.

Where are your manufacturing facilities based on?

The manufacturing happens in Yerwada Central Prison, Pune and Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai.

Which are the categories that the brand is into? What is the USP of your products?

We are into men's and women's footwear (specialised modern handcrafted kolhapuris and casual sandals). Our USP is memory foam and handcrafted kolhapuris made by skilled inmates serving life sentences in Indian prisons.

Who are your target audience?

We look to serve the conscious customer base of India, ranging from 18 to 60 years of age. A customer who wants to wear a product with pride and with ownership of an Indian high quality product.

How is the supply chain expected to change with increasing digitisation, AI, VR etc?

We are seeing a slow but steady movement towards before the Covid-19 situation. However in the post pandemic era, we have seen a sudden urgency in use of technology which normally no one used to do in India. This shows that we are capable and now that we have used tech, more and more people want to explore. Digitisation is the future. 

What is the annual production capacity?

120,000 pairs combined.

What has been your growth story in the last three years (excluding 2020)?

We started with selling about 30 pairs a month in 2018. Since then, we have been consistently growing in numbers and today we sell anywhere between 3000-4000 pairs a month.

What has been the impact of Covid in terms of sales, staff cutdown, rentals etc?

We expected 35-40 per cent loss in business but ended up with a negative 15 per cent overall. In terms of stocks, some styles which would have moved out got stuck due to Covid-19, impacting market conditions. Things are beginning to look up with the opening up of the markets.

What kind of machinery does your manufacturing facility boast of?

As an open footwear manufacturer, most of the machines are used for upper closing. Various types of stitching and cutting machines, along with lasting and finishing machines are used.

How much is spent on machine upgradation and maintenance annually?

We boast of our facilities inside prisons being of international standards and we say that because we not only have the best trainers but also high quality machines which do not require regular maintenance. So the cost would be very marginal. 

Moreover, we have also trained a few of the inmates to become machine mechanics which saves on cost and time both.

What is the price point of your kolhapuris? Which category sells the most?

The price range is between Rs 1990-2699, and men's and women's kolhapuris sell the most.

What is your retail and web presence like?

We retail through Regal Shoes, Rocia, INC5, Centro, Brand Factory, Agape- Kolkata, Peal Palace-Jaipur, Valentino Shoes- Agra and a few other individual conscious stores across the country. We also sell through our own website.

Sustainability and circularity are buzz words today. How do you incorporate them into your product lines?

Slowly we are moving towards using sustainable materials like khadi and washable eco-friendly papers which are being sourced from Italy in our attempt to contribute towards being the most sustainable brand that we can be.

What are your long-term sustainability goals?

We have just rolled out our line of kolhapuris infused with khadi fabric that have been getting a lot of appreciation.

We believe in R&D and that has been our core strength. We strive each season looking for opportunities to use unique crafts, styles and materials to make our product not only better but also as sustainable and eco-friendly as it can be.
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Which are your major markets?

Metro cities specifically in western and southern India

What is your market positioning?

We are a new age brand striving to serve a very specific demand of conscious customer. We want to further expand our market in the Indian market offering new age traditional footwear that also goes well with casualwear.

What are the brand building strategies you employ?

In times where branding is everything, we want to be old school and thrive on our word of mouth publicity and want to grow organically. We believe in the concept of organic slow growth being far better than a time star. But for awareness we prefer digital marketing. 

If you are looking for vendors, what are the top 3 qualities are you looking at beyond the givens of quality, lead time, compliances etc?

Loyalty, strong R&D and passion driven.
This article was first published in the February 2021 edition of the print magazine.
Published on: 09/04/2021

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.