I'm Arjun, Founder of Gully Labs. Ask me anything!

Hi! great q

how do you maintain product integrity without losing your mind over cost, timelines, and vendor chaos? What’s been your biggest "non-negotiable" through that grind? So we manufacture and design everything in-house. We realised early on that if we need to be design and product led - we'd need to do things in house and own majority of the mfg process. As first time manufacturers - the journey has been painful and hair splitting at times - but everything comes down to great processes, problem solving and the people you hire in your firm. I don't think there is a silver bullet

The only non negotiable we have is doing 100% right by the customer. Giving them a great product that we have promised and if/when we err on delivery timelines/product quality (and we have) is to make it 100% right by them. Me + team regularly scours reddit and other platforms for any critical customer review and try to problem solve.

Heard about a potential collab with Coca-Cola, is this true? Yes we have had conversations - nothing yet to unveil.

Lastly, On the sustainability front - how are you approaching materials, waste or ethical sourcing at scale? Like, is “sustainable Indian manufacturing” a real goal or more of a brand checkbox right now? The focus is business lead atm - sourcing 99% of our materials locally (no imports), having minimal wastage (because more efficient and cost effective), and using great natural materials like genuine leather, canvas and predominantly rubber soles.

ugly or pretty is subjective and a personal preference - I cannot debate that

On use cases - we are focussed on making more daily wear colour / designs - the baaz collection and the revisit collection was one. a new drop coming out this week will see us doing more in this space.

on pricing/value - check this answer out: https://share.gvine.app/37aVWAWemhc6BHxx7

happy to hear you like the socks :)

ngl i get this a lot - automatically assuming an Indian origin company will be inferior (shoe won't last), and unless it discounts significantly the value premium will not be met (no pedigree).

The leather costs the same, and the craftsmanship and achieving the product quality takes the same time but somehow we should be cheaper.

e.g. any onitsuka that is hand crafted and "Nippon made" doesnt cost less than INR 15k - a similar Gully Number 001 Naadu - paying homage to Onam costs INR 6.9k

Sneaker culture became popular at grassroots. At least thats how it started in the US and grew up with the pop culture. Japan and Italy rode the craft wave.

Who is doing the same for India?

Last year we launched Gully Number 002 - inspired by Indian hockey team's dominance and the Indian team noticed it!

This month we hosted Hardik - the Vice Captain of Indian hockey team and an olympian at our factory with all our karigars.

He got it.

And perhaps your nephew just gets it too.

How do you compete with other Indian/global sneakers brands in terms of price/quality/USP?

Most of our sneakers are hand lasted and each component are hand cut. Similar sneakers made in Italy e.g. common projects do not cost below $300. If you care about craft nature of your sneakers you may find it worthwhile.

In terms of materials - we use superior materials like full grain leathers or genuine leather and canvas + rubber soles. Such sneakers from even non branded mfgs do not cost lower than INR 4,000 in India.

Most sneakers that you see retailing in market for INR2-4k are predominantly labelled vegan leather which means it is a thermoplastic polymer. Our decision to use durable materials like leather, canvas suede mix is to enable a sneaker age well. Look decent even after being used as a beater have character to a worn shoe.

Our insole is made of PU, which is more expensive than a typical EVA insole. It is durable, more shock absorbing and moisture absorbing

If you care about design, each collection is embroidered - and that takes effort and cost. Some are subtly embroidered and others are more so.

Even at the end if the sneaker does not work for you - we take it back or replace it - so we stand by what we make.

Is this really inspired from Gullies of India? It seems pricey

For us Gullies are places we grew around in. And for us gullies don't mean throwaway. Our goal is to take Indian design and it's narratives and make it aspirational and global. e.g.

002 - inspired by Indian hockey team Baaz Indrani - inspired by Indrani Rahman - an Indian classical dancer and the country's first beauty pageant titleholder. Traveller - inspired by the mules our dads used to wear back in the 90s to office Saaj - a Diwali inspired sneaker. When American brands make China inspired "Year of Dragon" collectible sneakers - who is making for "the festival of lights" I ask?

Lots of influencers/investors talking about this, how do you maintain the authenticity of manufacturing/selling it?

Influencers - We have to tell our brand story and our collection narratives - and people who get our vision have supported us and jammed with us - and we are very blessed to have worked with some very cool folks.

Investors - maybe they like the brand and connect with it or maybe they are customers and they like the product

Do you have a plan of selling other footwears too apart from sneakers? Yes!

imo rising awareness in the space. people wanting differentiating options. people having more pairs per person (as compared to 5 years ago). deformalisation of the office space. more social media led awareness.

there is a stat somewhere that an avg indian has 2-3 shoes and an avg american 10-15.

we reached out to them

yeah 100% - running our own mfg facility has allowed us to take rapid feedback and integrate into product

some we worked on

1. having a smaller back logo (revisit collection + its future drops)
2. wanting more white based sneakers
3. optimising for certain foot sizes
4. going up to size UK13 (in GL 002)

we develop our own lasts and sneaker patters and iterate on these almost daily on our sampling floor

1. I moved back from Aus, post my last startup closed. Wanted to startup again. Spent some time in early stage VC. Iterated on a bunch of ideas from B2b Saas to community to DTC. Kept coming back to building in consumer. Maybe it is the quick dopamine hit hunger. Sneakers - I could relate to most as a guy. My time in Australia had shown me a lot of detailed/product/narrative led brands. Rarely could find any when I back here. Sneakers are also a fairly technical product - its almost like making a cell phone (with no programming tho). Felt there was a bit of a manufacturing or a capital moat there. Met Animesh my co-founder on my journey - he is a sneakerhead. one thing led to another and here we are.

2. Processes are run in batches, but if a single karigar were to do each process back to back - it would take 3 hrs? 15 mins cutting, 10 mins pasting, 15 mins stitching, 15 mins lasting, 15 mins heating, 15 mins chilling, 15 mins hand stitching

3. By story telling why we need to exist. For the first year of Gully Labs' existence, we did UGC reels on IG, shared our reason to exist. And got pre orders for the first 50 pairs.

4. by solving for mainsteam use cases and being present on all distribution platforms

5. While the broader business of manufacturing is perhaps its own beast but for all compliances and setting it up - you have vendors and consultants. The rules are complicated and archaic at certain points. If you wish to do it all yourself - it may be hair pulling but with vendors and consultants - it gets outsourced pretty fast and quick.

6. I am not very aware of the Indian investor community's take tbh

we have always manufactured in Noida

1. style - the sneaker market moves very fast and established brands have very strong existing ranges and drop hundreds of new versions/alterations each year. from a sneaker perspective - if you have a dud style and you don't build on it diligently - it will be hard journey. You need to make it desirable.

2. quality - it is table stakes. if it is dud quality - you churn your users and keep spending to acquire new.

3. price - there are brands and markets at each price point - it is how you position and solve for point 1 and point 2

what made me start selling shoes: see point 1 https://share.gvine.app/aCFHKeRTX2GQgsXj9

on being too bright. we have had that feedback. you will see "less poppy" designs starting this weekend. do keep an eye out on our IG/website