At a time when consumers are increasingly prioritising comfort without compromising on style, Mumbai-based footwear brand Chupps Footwear is carving a distinct niche in the open-footwear segment. Founded in 2019, the brand has built its identity around sliders, sandals, flip-flops, and clogs—categories that are often treated as secondary offerings by mainstream footwear players.
By focusing exclusively on open footwear, the brand has steadily grown from a single-store operation into a nationwide brand with a presence across nearly 200 cities. The company’s growth story recently received a significant boost with Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane joining the brand as an investor and strategic advisor. More than a celebrity association, the partnership reflects growing confidence in the brand’s category-focused approach and its ambitions to build India’s next major comfort-footwear label.
Owning the Open-Footwear Space
What differentiates Chupps Footwear from many established footwear brands is its singular focus on open footwear. Rather than treating sliders and sandals as add-on categories, the company has built its entire business around them. This category expertise has enabled the brand to focus on every aspect of the product—from comfort and fit to durability and design.
At the heart of its offering is TrueZero technology, which is designed to enhance comfort while incorporating biodegradable
materials and sustainable manufacturing practices. The approach resonates with a growing segment of consumers seeking products that align with both their lifestyle and values.
Scaling Across Channels
Over the past six years, the brand has quietly built a strong distribution network across India. Chupps Footwear today works with 30 distributors and is available through more than 3,000 retail touchpoints. Its presence spans general trade, modern trade, and leading retail chains including Metro, Reliance, and INC5.
Alongside its offine expansion, Chupps Footwear has developed a robust digital presence through its own website and marketplaces such as Amazon, Myntra, Ajio, and Zepto. The company currently sells around 100,000 pairs of footwear every month, while a repeat purchase rate of nearly 25–27% underscores growing consumer loyalty and acceptance.
Expanding Beyond Core Categories
Chupps Footwear today offers a portfolio of more than 300 SKUs across sliders, sandals, clogs, flip-flops, and V-straps
for both men and women. Positioned in the Rs 699-1500 price range, the brand caters to consumers seeking comfort-led, design-conscious footwear at accessible price points. Collections such as Element, Flow, Plush, Solis, Chupster, Neko, and Rover continue to be among its strongest performers, driven by robust consumer demand and high repeat purchases.
Looking ahead, the company is exploring newer segments including recovery footwear, kids’ sliders, a pre-teen range, and a dedicated women’s collection that combines style with everyday comfort. These additions reflect a broader strategy to strengthen its position within the comfortled footwear market while appealing to a wider consumer base.
Innovation and Sustainability in Focus
At Chupps Footwear, sustainability isn’t a claim, it’s built in. “Sustainability alone rarely closes a sale—it reassures, but it doesn’t hook the consumer,” says Yashesh Mukhi, Founder, Chupps Footwear. Instead, the brand leads with comfort, design, and performance, while sustainability remains a core pillar of its product philosophy. The brand has developed BioFoam powered by TruZero™, a 100% biodegradable sole compound that is vegan, plastic-free, and engineered to naturally decompose at the end of its lifecycle without compromising on performance.
Beyond soles, Chupps Footwear continues to explore alternative materials for uppers and straps as part of an ongoing innovation programme focused on reducing environmental impact. Importantly, the company has chosen to price its biodegradable range on par with its conventional products. “Choosing responsibly shouldn’t cost more. When the product delivers on comfort and quality, and the price doesn’t penalise the buyer, sustainability becomes a genuine conversion driver,” he explains.
Beyond Marketing: Creating Lasting Engagement
- Beyond Social Media: Chupps Footwear views social media as a discovery tool, but focuses on building long-term engagement through WhatsApp journeys, owned content platforms (on Chupps.com), and direct consumer relationships.
- Creator Partnerships with Longevity: Rather than one-off influencer campaigns, the brand collaborates with creators who genuinely use and advocate the product over time, creating greater authenticity and trust.
- Expanding Beyond Digital Touchpoints: Chupps Footwear is forging partnerships with sports academies and foot-health experts to engage consumers around recovery, comfort, and everyday wellbeing.
- Purpose-Driven Collaborations: The brand prioritises long-term relationships with partners that align with its values, exemplifled by its biodegradable billboard campaign in Bandra, which reinforced its sustainability narrative.
- Strategic Brand Alliances: Through partnerships with IPL franchises such as the Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans, Chupps Footwear integrates itself into fan culture and everyday consumer experiences, moving beyond traditional sponsorship models.
“Social gets us noticed. But honestly, any brand with a budget can buy attention on a feed that keeps people is everything after the sale. We’re also building into spaces that matter to our consumer beyond the phone screen. Strategic institutional partnerships with sports academies, foot health experts that speak to the role footwear plays in recovery and everyday wellbeing,” explains Mukhi.
“That’s a conversation our audience cares about, and we’re showing up for it in a meaningful, not just a marketed, way. Attention is easy. Preference is the part worth earning,” he adds further.
Overall Distribution Strategy
Marketplaces and owned channels play distinct but complementary roles in brands’ growth strategy. Platforms such as Myntra, Amazon, and Flipkart serve as powerful discovery engines, helping the brand reach new consumers at scale. In contrast, Chupps.com and the brand’s exclusive retail stores are where deeper customer relationships are nurtured, offering greater control over the brand experience while strengthening customer loyalty and profitability. While marketplaces drive reach and acquisition, owned channels help convert first-time buyers into long-term customers.
Return Rates and Sizing Challenges
Retention, return rates, and channel mix are the numbers brands’ live by. They indicate what’s actually working versus what would hoped to work and those are often different things at times.
“Return rates in particular are an honest signal on fit and expectation. We’d rather read the demand clearly than design on instinct and hope the market agrees,” points Mukhi.
Growth Trajectory and Brand-Led Expansion
Targeting an annual turnover of Rs 25 crore and projected growth of nearly 50% year-on-year over the next two years, Chupps Footwear is gearing up for its next phase of expansion.
The brand plans to increase its exclusive retail footprint from one store to six by March 2027 while strengthening its presence across key Indian markets through its omnichannel network. Innovation will continue to be centred on comfort, material advancements, and product performance rather than fleeting trends. While international markets are being explored for the future, the immediate focus remains on scaling responsibly in India.
“Design is more than aesthetics—it is one of our strongest competitive advantages, and it will continue to shape the next phase of our growth,” concludes Mukhi.
