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four shades of tan, for example, burnt tan, mid-tan, light tan
and dark tan, with the difference easier to see when you
have them all together than to describe. In contrast, the
burgundy colour that seems so popular in the US is not part
of the preferred pallet in India.
Any defence of leather that Indian tanners, footwear and
leathergoods brands have to present is sometimes linked to
religious sentiments; 80% of the population is Hindu.
According to Vivek Gaitonde, though, most of the scandals
that the leather industry in India has been involved in
recently have centred on environmental questions,
particularly tanners’ management of effluent. “The
government here is very strict about this, but I think we are
doing quite a good job,” he says.
Crafted by hand
The new Gaitonde operation will be small, with a team of
15, including management and the company’s own
craftspeople and designers, working in its footwear factory in
the Chromepet area near Chennai airport. The team consists
of highly skilled people, Mr Gaitonde insists, people who
may have learned the basics in other factories, but whom
Gaitonde has educated on the finer details, encouraging
them to make “perfect shoes” for clients. “They have that
passion and philosophy in Italy,” he adds, “to do, do and re-
do each shoe until it’s perfect. We have a long way to come,
but on the sole of all of our shoes, it’s going to say clearly
that they are proudly hand-crafted in India.”
Customers will, as before, be wealthy individuals in the
cities in which the boutiques open, chief executives or vice-
presidents of large, successful corporations, alongside
celebrities and sports stars. There will be a range of styles to
attract flamboyant as well as phlegmatic tastes, including
eye-catching blue suede boots. “They are people who have
achieved something and no longer want to wear shoes from
a regular brand,” Vivek Gaitonde explains. “They want their
own personalised shoes now. I have a friend who, whenever
he buys a suit, whatever suit he chooses, he wants red lining
in the jacket. That’s his personal touch. So if we design black
shoes for him that look good with red laces, he can have
them as a complement to his personalised look. Our
customers understand everything about how their shoes
should look and be finished. They don’t want anything run-
of-the-mill and they know that classy leather is the best
material you can have for shoes.”
He finds it easy to articulate the argument in favour of
spending extra money on extra high-quality shoes and, in
discussing this with his friends, uses a simple analogy.
Young men making their way in the world usually buy beer
from a store and drink it together in the home of one
member of the group. Why don’t they go to a five-star hotel
and have a beer there in sumptuous surroundings? Well,
because they feel they cannot afford to. Once they reach a
point in their professional lives at which they can afford to
gather in the five-star location instead, they will. At that
point, the thought of buying beer in a store and drinking it
in someone’s living-room would seem strange; people have
moved on from there.
To bring this back to Gaitonde shoes (the equivalent of
the five-star hotel’s bar in his analogy), he invites discerning
consumers to take account of the quality of the leather his
company uses and is confident that Gaitonde products will
come out well in comparison with other shoes available in
the local market. “We’re not in business to cheat anyone,”
he says. “There are three separate quality checks in the
factory for every single shoe. We offer value for money
because of the quality of our materials and because of the
care and attention we apply.”
38
WORLD FOOTWEAR | MAY/JUNE 2012
The company is entering a new
phase in its history now and
will concentrate on offering
customised, handmade shoes
for discerning clients in a small
number of Indian cities.
PHOTO CREDIT: GAITONDE